Comin' to Get You
by girltype
Summary: (MA and JZ) In case you need a refresher. Do you actually think that Zack's siblings would let him go so easily?...not a chance.
1. Hot Chocolate speculations

Disclaimer: I own nothing, come on, I'm a college student.

Author's Note: For some reason lately, Zack having amnesia has really really gotten the gears in my head to turn. I can't help it. It's really weird. So here's another Zack inspired fic. though the other one will be finished, promise. I just had to start this before I could work on the other one. It will be an M/A later on, though it probably won't focus too much on Max or Alec. 

Review, or fluffy gets it! ::meow::

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 1: Hot chocolate speculations

The first thing he noticed, when he saw her standing in the doorway of the small diner, was her hair, a blond cascade that swirled around her hips with cerulean blue streaks running all through it. Her eyes came next, an electric blue that he had seen only a few times when he had stayed up all night and the sky had turned the brightest blue imaginable, for a second only, before fading away. He wondered for a moment if she was trying to advertise with the WonderWoman T-shirt when she stretched slowly. 

She caught his eye and smiled, flashing perfect white teeth with fangs only slightly sharper than a normal human's. Then she was sauntering towards him, hips swaying back and forth in a hypnotic rhythm. She leaned over his table placing forearms down gently, and he found those eyes level with his. "Howdy, cowboy, come here often?" 

"I reckon not." He played along making his voice sound twang-y and southern. Earrings glinting in the sun like silver flames caught his eye forcing it to travel from the cuff shaped like a dragon down the path of the delicate chain to the quartz dangling from her left ear. It was pretty but he didn't tell her that, instead he moved his eyes back to her face. 

Her tongue darted out to wet full red lips and she batted her eyelashes sweetly, her mouth slowly formed one word, "pity." Her voice was smooth and rich as it wound it's way down his spine.

"Keep me company while I'm here?" He smiled, flashing his own perfect white teeth with fangs. She shrugged acting bored and slid into the booth next to him, not in the seat across from him like he had expected. 

"Miss me, Zane?" She asked running a hand, with painted blue nails, through his dyed black hair playfully. Her fingers lingered for a second over his neck, where his barcode would be coming back in a couple days, fingertips like silk over the sensitive skin.

"Always, Jondy, always…what trouble have you been getting into?" 

"Trouble…me?" She choked and pretended to look shocked at the accusation, delicate features molded into a parody of innocence. "Me getting into trouble? Don't you have me confused with Krit or somebody? Whatever you wanna blame on me I didn't do it, maybe it was Lis." 

"I don't think so." He leaned his shoulder into hers and she laughed.

"Krit was the one who knocked over the telephone pole…" Zane waved a hand in the air to stop her from going any further.

"And you were the one who convinced him to do it."

"I was joking…not my fault that he couldn't tell." She waved a hand at the waitress before turning back to him with innocent eyes and pouted.

"You blew up the apartment."

"I can't cook, what can I say?" She rolled her eyes heavenward before she turned to the waitress with a smirk and shrugged. "Men, always gotta be blamin' the women folk."

"Tell me 'bout it, sistah." The woman chuckled shaking her head, "what can I get you two kids?"

"I want pancakes with a side of pancakes," Jondy said showing off teeth once again.

"You can't have a side of pancakes…" Zane started.

"Sure I can…" she stopped when she saw his face and turned back to the waitress huffing, "but lots of pancakes with scrambled eggs and sausages." She turned to Zane with a raised eyebrow, "good enough for you, daddy dearest?"

"Mm hmm, same for me and two milks," he shot a glare at Jondy when she grimaced. 

"What? Zack disappears and suddenly you're just playin' CO?" Her lips pursed and she made her tone playful but he saw the look in her eyes and the way she was suddenly rubbing her shoulder. The shoulder with a tattoo of some Chinese word, that he had never bothered to find the meaning of, the same one that Zack had had on his own shoulder. 

They had gotten their tattoos together, for some reason Zane had never really been clear on. Maybe they had been drunk, both having to consume enough alcohol to kill a horse, and decided it was a good idea. Somehow he doubted it. Zane grimaced again; he knew fully well how close the two had been…insanely close considering it had been Zack. He spent more time with her than any of the other X5's, sometimes Zane wondered, or worried, that the two didn't look at each other like siblings. When Zane had asked point blank once, when he had found a pile of clothes that smelt like Zack in Jondy's apartment, she had fallen to the floor laughing. Despite the reaction he still wondered, he knew fully well that it was probably jealousy on his part.

Zane ran a hand through Jondy's hair gently pushing a blue streak off her forehead with feather light fingers, the hair falling through his grasp in a waterfall of silk. "I just want to make sure everyone's ok…I worry."

She gnawed at her top lip before giving him a crooked smile and starting to fidget in her seat, "Yeah, we kind of give you good reason to worry don't we. You know me, man…gotta shoot off my mouth."

"Such a nice mouth too," he whispered into her ear, his breath warm on creamy skin, and she turned full electric blue eyes on him knowing just the effect they would have on him.

"I know, makes you think dirty thoughts doesn't it?" And then she bit her full bottom lip and batted her thick black eyelashes; he almost opened his mouth to agree with her when the waitress came back with their order. A bark of laughter and then she was shoveling through pancakes, no syrup, and sausages, with syrup, and scrambled eggs that were being ignored at the moment. 

Looking at the eating habits of his companion with a smirk he shook his head, "You're strange," and took a bite off of his own plate.

"I'd blame it on my parents if I could, too bad I'm a freak without a parents help…" she paused and looked off into space for a moment, "though I guess Lydecker could be considered a father figure." She bounced her head to music in her own head before grinning at him, "I always wondered…you know how he was always drinking out of those silver mugs?" She waited for Zane's bewildered nod before going on. "What if it wasn't coffee in those mugs?" He started to laugh, not knowing where she was going, but finding it funny anyway. "What if it had been hot chocolate?" She waved a forkful of pancakes infront of his face, "wouldn't that just completely blow your concepts of childhood…with marshmallows?" She was grinning her eyes wide and slightly glazed as she ate the aforementioned pancakes, and Zane was having trouble breathing, only Jondy could come up with this sort of thing about their very own childhood monster. "So, yes, freak, am I." 

"What is it with you and calling yourself a freak?" He managed still smiling.

"I like it, makes me feel special." She grinned and sighed. "I'm WonderWoman and all."

"Yeah, great disguise. Shouldn't you be worried that your shirt'll give away your secret identity?"

"Nah, no one suspects the superhero to be wearing her own merchandise." She suddenly turned calculating eyes on him, electric blue meeting dark forest green, "so, what brings you to my part of the world?"

"Missed you?" He raised his eyebrows at her playfully and cringed when she swatted at him.

"You're a wonderful actor when you aren't dealing with me, I'm sure." She licked her lips, her tongue darting out slowly, as she leaned towards him, "now, what brings you to my part of the world?"

She went back to eating steadily, pushing a piece of sausage in a slow circle through her syrup until she realized that he hadn't started talking yet, she sighed softly and turned to look at him. When she was his face, green eyes pensive and unsure and his bottom lip caught between his teeth, she dropped her fork, with a loud clatter, and turned so that she faced him squarely and put her hands on his shoulders. His mouth opened and closed for a second before he could force sound out, "I'm here because Zack…" he swallowed past a lump in his throat and Jondy put a hand to his cheek comfortingly, "isn't dead."

She dropped her hands from his cheek and shoulder and looked for a heart-rending moment that she was going to cry. "I…expected better…from you, of…all people. I…I thought you weren't the type to play like that, Zane."

"I'm not," he grabbed her hand when she started to get out of the booth. "Listen to me, Jondy, I'm not playing here. You should know me better than that." He pulled her back down and grabbed her chin and forced her to meet his eye. "He's alive."

"No, you remember, just as well as I do, Syl calling to tell us what had happened. You remember her sobbing so hard she couldn't talk, so that Krit had to tell us for her that Zack was dead." Her face was perfectly cold, and so was her voice but he knew that under the surface emotions were raging. She had always had the hardest time concealing her emotions when they were kids, he realized now that she had had a lot more practice. But that didn't do anything for the fact that he knew her, and he knew what emotions were rolling just underneath the surface.

"I remember, but she didn't have all the information. Her and Krit only got half the story…there's more and it equals to a not dead Zack."

Her face crumpled and something that sounded disturbingly like a sob tore from her mouth, "Zack…is…is…alive?" He nodded his head slowly, smiling. "He can't be. Why wouldn't he have gotten in touch with one of us…with me?"

"I don't know why, but he's alive."

Her eyes searched his face, running over the high cheekbones and the square jaw and finally resting on his eyes. Something she found there must have done what his voice could not. "Big brother Zack; the over pretentious, paranoid, brick wall of a brother?"

"Sounds about right."

"He's alive?" a smile broke out on her face and it looked like she didn't know whether to cry or laugh. "Where is he?"

"I don't know yet." He held up a hand to fend off her questions, "a…friend of mine dropped some information in my lap. I've been looking for some of the others that Zack didn't let us keep in contact with, you know like Max and Rich. He's been helpful and two days ago he tells me Zack's still alive. He doesn't know where, he just knows who can tell us." He bit his lip and waited for what would come next.

"Who?" her eyes went cold and he knew that she was getting ready to kill anything that might get in her way.

"Remember a year or so ago when our cover was blown, and there was a broad cast across the country to tell us?"

"Eyes Only?" Her voice was incredulous as she remembered vividly the broadcast. It caught her eye, in the bar she had been working at for two months, when she had heard the designation X5. When the voice had proclaimed that her cover was blown she had dropped the bottle of bourbon that had been in her hands, it shattered on the floor, but she never saw it connect with the ground she had already been gone.

"He knows where Zack is." Zane was also remembering when he had seen the broadcast, leaving the garage he had been working in with a sad backward glance before he had taken off stopping at his place only to grab his dog, Sasha.

"How do we find him?" Her hand slapped down on the table and he watched as her jaw clenched.

"All I know is he's in Seattle…" He blinked and she was heading for the door. "Hey, Jondy, where are you going?"

"Where do you think?" She shot back, before she was running in a swirl of gold and blue

"I'm coming too, get back here!" He threw down some money and was bolting out the door to catch up to her.


	2. Evil Shenanigans

Disclaimer: blah blah woof woof.

Author's note: Hi! How are you doin'? I'm just dandy. Let me tell ya, my and my boy are watching this little kitten that's like four weeks old and he is just he cutest little bad ass that ever there was. He's this sandy gray on his body and his paws, ears, nose, and tail are all true gray, and he has these wide milky blue eyes. He is adorable and he's got me in like the best mood I've been in in like forever. What can I say? The key to my happiness is found in kittens. Review! 

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 2: Evil Shenanigans

"I wanna be a supermodel, and my hair will shine like the see-ea see-ea, I wanna be a supermodel, and everyone'll wanna be just like mee-ea mee-ea." Jondy sang while she bounced impatiently on the couch, of the apartment that they were presently squatting in, watching Zane move through the kitchen. One light was on, casting dim shadows across his face. 

"What are you singing?" It was two in the morning and he was tired, Jondy's seeming inability to stop moving for two minutes was finally getting to him. He shot a glance at her and resisted the urge to let his mouth drop open, something about the sight of her always caught him off guard.

Her mouth dropped open and she stared at him in horror, "just no appreciation for the classics, it's appalling."

"That's a classic?" he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Pre-pulse. Anything pre-pulse is a classic."

"I don't think so," he shook his head in disbelief.

"I don't care what you think."

"Anyway, can you please stop it?" He called tuning to glare at her.

She blew a strand of blue hair out of her eyes and tried her hardest to sit still. It wasn't exactly working very well, so she jumped off the couch and skipped into the kitchen grabbing Zane's arm and turning him to face her. "We're in Seattle, now when do we find Eyes?"

"We will, I have to hear from some people before we can start tearing the town apart. It's not like he's an easy guy to find." He smiled at her wide eyes and pried her hand off his arm. "How much caffeine have you had today?"

"I haven't had any. I'm naturally this antsy, dammit! Maybe if I did drink caffeine it would calm me down, you know kind of like speed." She started bouncing on the balls of her feet and then stopped. "Where's your dog?"

"Sasha's in my room, probably sleeping on the bed."

"I can't believe you brought your dog."

"I didn't know how long we would be here. I couldn't leave her."

"You could have let someone else take care of her while you were gone." She rolled her eyes and waved her hands in the air for emphasis.

"Never, she's my baby." He called to her back as she disappeared into his bedroom. There was a crash, and then he could hear her low voice as she talked to Sasha and then the squeak of the bed as she came to play with Jondy.

"Ball!" A green tennis ball flew past Zane's face, as he craned his head around the kitchen counter, followed by an exuberant Sasha and Jondy. "Woohoo!" Jondy took a dive for the ball but missed it. Zane had trouble standing as he watched the two wrestle on the floor. "Give it up, dog, I'm gonna win!" a bark was her only reply followed by an 'oof' when Jondy's rear connected solidly with the ground. "Ah, slobber!"

Zane shook his head as he turned back to the kitchen to finish stocking the refrigerator. He listened to the loud struggle going on behind him, only mildly worried that the furniture that they had found in the apartment would be seriously damaged after a visit from someone like Jondy. Then the apartment suddenly got quiet and he froze, in the middle of putting a box of frozen coffee in the freezer. In all his experience with Jondy he had learned to be the most afraid when she wasn't making any noise. He turned slowly, fearing the worst, and found Jondy lying flat on her back with Sasha's paws on her shoulders and licking her face. He laughed, "Sasha! Come here, girl!" He patted his leg and Sasha's large head shot up, hearing her owner's voice and then she was bounding towards him with her tongue lolling and leaving Jondy lying in a heap on the floor. 

"I'm a pathetic soldier," she moaned turning herself onto her stomach.

"No, you're not."

"I got beat by a dog!" she cried.

"She's a very special dog."

"She's not a genetically enhanced dog, and she didn't take Eskrema either!" She rolled back over onto her back and sat up with a frown until she looked at him. A smile broke out on her face and she was on her feet and dashing towards Zane before he knew what was happening. She was nuzzling his cheeks with her own, and for a minute he was so surprised he didn't realize just what she was doing. Then she pulled away with a cheeky grin, "now you're a slobber hound too!"

He pushed her away playfully and wiped at his cheeks with his t-shirt trying his best to ignore her maniacal laughter. "You took Eskrema?"

"Yeah, Zack thought I was nuts. 'Why do you want to take more classes on fighting, you can disable a line backer with your thumb and index finger?'" She shrugged, "I liked being able to play with a sword, and big wooden sticks." 

He was laughing along with her now, shaking his head at the wide grin that split her face. What sounded like a chime went off dimly freezing both of them. "My cell," he said quietly taking off to find it.

"Where is it?" She followed him into his room as he went tearing through his clothes.

"I don't know."

"Here, phone, come here, phone," she started calling picking up shirts and boxers indiscriminately. When a pair of his camouflage boxers landed on his head he almost called the whole search off but then he heard Jondy's loud triumphant call. "Ha ha, I found you, you scoundrel." He heard the ringing stop and turned to watch as she smiled into the phone, "Zane's pant's, how may I help you?" 

His eyes widened when he saw a pair of his jeans hanging from her hand. He pounced on her resting the phone away from her hands, "Hello?" He licked his lips and pushed Jondy away from his shoulder where she was trying to listen in on the conversation. "No, I won't hook you up with her…look, do you have the information I asked about?" He narrowed his eyes at the girl bouncing infront of him and pointed at the door trying to look athoritive. She laughed but left anyway. "What can you tell me?"

"If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman?" He heard coming from the living room, thinking idly that it was a good thing he could multi-task. "If I'm alive and well, will you be there holding my hand? I'll keep you by my side with my superhuman might, Kryptonite." He stifled a laugh when he saw Jondy's head crane around his doorframe and pull back when she saw him watching she didn't pause in her song however. "You called me strong, you called me weak, but still your secrets I will keep. You took for granted all the times I never let you down. You stumbled in and bumped your head, if not for me then you'd be dead."

"Thanks for your help, man." Zane sighed into the phone as he hung it up. He glared at the doorway knowing that Jondy was waiting just out of sight. "You can come be more of a nuisance now."

"I'm a nuisance?" she pouted walking over to him dejectedly. "You don't wuv me no more." When he looked up he was faced with large sad blue eyes that seemed to brim with tears for a second.

"Jondy…" he started before she laughed and the illusion was dispelled.

"What did he have to say?"

"He's managed to narrow our search down to the money district."

"Makes sense, you gotta have some money to keep going all these years with those cable hacks." She plopped down on his bed, and patted her leg. There was a jingle and Sasha walked into the room with a lolling tongue and climbed up onto the bed next to her. " Could possibly get onto a computer tomorrow and see whose been accessing what information, it could narrow it down even more." Zane nodded and watched as she scratched at the dog's ears absently," I keep expecting it to be a joke." Her sad voice almost made him jump.

He looked at her for a long time before sighing softly and sinking down on the bed next to her, "I know what you mean."

"We gotta find him. What if something happened, and he's hurt and that's why he didn't get in touch with any of us?" Blue eyes met green and he swallowed hard.

"We'll find him."

"We have to…" she choked out biting her lip when she felt his strong hand resting against her neck. "He's saved my ass too many times for me to just leave him if he's hurt."

"Jondy…" Zane waited for her to look at him, "he's saved all our asses, we'll get him back."

She nodded, "I remember four years after the escape he showed up at my door. Appeared out of thin air, or at least that's what it seemed like. He'd found me before that but never stayed around, but this time was different…I was in a bad situation…and he got me out." She was blindly staring at Sasha's ears, "he stayed with me for two months, it was probably my best two months ever." She smiled and looked at Zane.

"What was the situation?"

"Abusive fosters…funny when you think about it, but not really." She said the last part to her hands. 

"He was closer to you than anyone…" he started and she laughed. "Really, J, I never saw him smile as much as when he was around you."

"We understood each other…he told me what to do and I ignored him."

"And here I thought I was special…"

"You are, I haven't pelted raw eggs at you…yet."

"Raw eggs?"

"Zack pissed me off, I had been cooking eggs and they were there." She laughed and stuck her tongue out triumphantly. "He was so ready to blow a fuse when the first one hit him square in the chest…I'll always remember how the egg just exploded, it was beautiful." Her eyes were dreamy as she sighed.

"He kicked your ass didn't he?"

"No…" she laughed at his shocked expression. "We had an egg fight. Then he left, leaving me to clean it all up, the rat bastard."

"I'm having a lot of trouble picturing Zack in an egg fight." He rubbed at the back of his neck and shook his head.

"I was there and I have problems picturing it!" She smiled turning to look at him and realized just how close he was to her. His shoulder was pressed hard against hers, hips brushing gently, and faces mere inches apart. He realized the same second she did, when he felt her breath warm and sweet against his cheek. The smile slipped off of her face when their eyes met. Her tongue darted out to wet her full lips and he couldn't drag his eyes away from the sight. 

His own breathing sounded harsh in his ears when he saw her eyes lower to his lips. He swallowed hard and started to lean in closer when he had to suddenly turn his in a yawn. She laughed uneasily and jumped off his bed, she smiled down at him and bit her lip. "How about I let you get some sleep, soldier?"

"Sounds good," he answered trying his best to keep disappointment out of his voice. 

She walked quietly to the door and turned back just before she disappeared from his sight. "Sweet dreams, Z."

"You too," he whispered to the closed door. Sasha whined softly and he glared at her, "what?" She looked at him and tilted her head her eyebrows lifting. He shook his head, it had to be the wolf DNA that made him think of her with such human expressions. 

With a heavy sigh he stood, the bed creaking unhappily at the shift of weight. With heavy hands he dragged his shirt over his head and shucked off his pants, and stood there for a long time in just his royal blue boxers staring off into space. He heard a huff from behind him; he shot another look at his dog, "shut up."

He padded over to his light and switched it off with a click and waited for a second for his night vision to kick in. When it did he picked his way over to his bed and lay down with a groan. He felt as Sasha crawled over his feet and placed her chin down on his calf. She was a reassuring weight, the only constant in the last five years of running. It seemed like hours before he managed to drift off to sleep, blue eyes weighing heavy on his mind, then everything faded to black.

Hours later Jondy was shifting on the balls of her feet in his doorway and watched him. He woke with a start when he felt her eyes on him and sat up with a frown, "what's wrong?" he grumbled.

"I can't sleep," she said in a small voice.

"You can never sleep." He yawned and wiggled his toes underneath Sasha's warm body.

"Doesn't mean that I don't want to sometimes."

"So what do you want me to do about it?" He rubbed at his eyes and let his eyes adjust again to the dark. Suddenly he could see her perfectly, a long t-shirt with the picture of a cat swung a hands breath above her knees, her arms crossed over her chest, and her hair a halo of gold and blue tangles.

"I don't know." He had the sudden feeling that they were children again and Eva was going to sit up any second and motion for them to go to bed. Max and Jondy should be sitting in Jondy's bed whispering quietly and they were going to pad over to Zack's bed and curl up around him with soft smiles. None of them her here now, though, and she had no one to curl up around 

"Come on, there's enough room," he held up the covers and laughed when she jumped with clapping hands into the bed next to him.

"Thanks," she whispered as she settled down next to him.

Holding his breath he slipped an arm around her waist and let it out with a silent gasp when she snuggled into him, her face buried in the crook of his neck. "No problem," he managed to get out calmly.

"Ever feel like you should wake up and be in the barracks?" she asked after a long time of silence.

"All the time," he rested his cheek against her head. "The only good times were in the barracks."

"I miss Ben making shadow puppets," her breath was hot on his neck and her hand seemed a heavy weight against his bare chest.

"For you and Max, because you couldn't sleep," he felt her smile, a puff of air caressing his collarbone.

"Remember the time we all climbed into Zack's bed? You and me were on his legs, Brin and Max's were hanging on his arms, Syl and Krit across his stomach, Rich and Ben above his head, or something like that, and Lis and Dee hanging on to Syl and Krit."

"I remember, he kept complaining that we were suffocating him…"

"But he never once told us to go back to our beds," she finished for him.

She nuzzled at him softly and they lay there quietly for a long time, Jondy listening to the steady beat of Zane's heart and he paid close attention to the feel of her pressed against him. "Do you think we'll be able to find this Eyes Only character?" She asked in a shaky voice.

"We won't let anything stop us." He answered his voice more sure tan he felt. He listened as her breath slowed, the rhythm of his heart lulling her to sleep. He felt her soft sigh and kissed her forehead, a brush of warm lips against her cool skin. "Sweet dreams," he whispered and stared at the ceiling.


	3. Push the red button

Disclaimer: You should know the drill by now.

Author's Note: Maybe some of you noticed that I changed the genre to Humor/Romance. I figured I had to because I was having too much fun writing this for it to not be a humor. Jondy is great; I have to say that of course 'cause I'm pulling a lot of her antics straight from me. I was eating Maraschino cherries while I was writing this. Yummy. But they're all gone now. L ::very big pouty face:: I'm starting to think you guys actually like my work. ::sniffle:: that is so great. 

Review, please do! 

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 3: Push the red button

"Come on…"

"No!"

"Za-ane!"

"No."

"Ple-ease?"

"I said 'no!'"

"I wanna see what happens…" Jondy leaned on his arm, and made her eyes go round.

"I said 'no.'" He repeated, trying to make his face hard against the onslaught of her sad puppy dog eyes.

"I'm hearing impaired…I can't hear things I don't wanna." She perked up, her back straightening and she reached for the device, "look if you don't want to push it, let me!"

"Hell…no." He pulled away from her reaching hands and put away the device that he had just received off the last man that he was supposed to be hearing from and glared at Jondy. "No pushing buttons that we don't know what they're for."

"Didn't it come with a manual or something?"

"I don't think bombs usually come with instruction manuals."

"Sure they do, but they're usually short. Push this button and run…or throw." She laughed and popped a Maraschino cherry into her mouth.

He shook his head and stared at her, "I still don't know how you managed to find those things. I didn't even know they still sold them."

"If you're a pretty girl you can get anything…well almost anything," she rolled her eyes and bit down on the cherry, "but I'm still working on the jet pack." She lifted a hand and held her index finger and her thumb half an inch apart and mouthed 'this close.' She got a dreamy look as she stared off into the distance, no doubt picturing the great fun she could have flying around. 

He shook his head and stifled a laugh. He could see why Zack had a tendency to smile so much when he was around her. Jondy had a way about her that screamed either 'love me' or 'send me to a mental hospital.' He watched her for a long time not realizing that his face had slipped into seriousness. She smiled up at him in confusion when she caught the look; she was starting to get uncomfortable. It was the smile, he concluded, it was wild and spoke of how much she understood the word freedom, and it was contagious. A sudden snapping of fingers dragged him from his revere. "What?"

"What is up wit' you, Z? You're goin' all spacey on me, you're not gonna do this when we go to Eyes, are you?" She leaned down to look him straight in the eye, her blue ones sparkling just a little, and he had to consider changing his opinion. It could be that the eyes were what had Zack smiling; they spoke more than her mouth did, which was saying a lot.

"Course not," he shrugged his shoulders and went back to packing his supplies. He didn't think they were going to need any explosives anytime soon but, when Jondy was involved, it was best to be prepared. He had been spacey all day, his mind wandering without warning and he could tell that Jondy was starting to worry. He contemplated telling her for a second that it was her fault but he doubted that she would appreciate taking the blame for his hormones. 

Waking up in bed with her snuggled in close to his side had been a surprise and an experience he desperately wished to repeat…maybe with fewer clothes but he wasn't too picky. Watching her stir against him as those electric blue eyes, with impossibly thick black eyelashes, fluttered had taken his breath away. She had smiled up at him and taken a deep breath before sitting up and stretching. Seeing Sasha she had ruffled her fur and with a 'mornin' she had taken off into the kitchen to make breakfast. It had been a long time before Zane had been able to form a coherent enough thought to follow her. 

"All right, I out." she stood waving at him and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" he called after her.

"To play with computers…"

"Now's not the time to play, Jond'…"

"So I can find out where Eyes lives, dufus." She finished without missing a beat. She narrowed her eyes and shook her head at him. "No faith." 

"Can you blame me?" he asked with wide eyes.

"Yes!" She pointed a finger at him; "I can blame anything on you that I want." She started backing out of the room singing, "If you would only treat me right, I'd stay here by your side." She grinned and waved and then put a hand to her heart, "But I am down to my last cry, So I'm leaving you, good bye." With that she disappeared out the door. Her singing fading out slowly, "so long to all my pain. Good night to my heartache. Good bye, sorrow."

~*~

"Tres magnefic!" He heard Jondy's call throughout the apartment accompanied by the slamming of the door. He poked his head out of his room, where he had been lying on his bed reading. 

"What's 'magnefic'?" 

"What, you don't know bad French when you hear it?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. He narrowed his eyes at her and watched as a grin split her face. He wondered idly if she hadn't fried a couple brain cells since she escaped from Manticore. "Well, I found a trail of information that seemed to all connect perfectly with recent Eyes Only broadcasts…you'd think he would have been found and put out of business by now. Such a trail, it's pathetic." She was swaying towards Zane with a seductive smile, and bit her lip. "I feel cheap," she batted her eyelashes before changing her direction to the kitchen. "Do we have any of that left over Pizza?" she called.

"Yes, and don't change the subject!" answered dashing towards the kitchen to see Jondy with her head stuck in the refrigerator. "What did you find?" 

She sighed and stood up with the box of pizza in her hands, she stuck her tongue out at the pizza in triumph. "I'm famished, a girl's got to eat. All that information gathering put a rumblin' in my tumblin.'" 

"What did you find?" he repeated his jaw clenching.

She smiled sweetly, "let me warm this up first, do you want some?" She didn't bother to wait for a reply and slowly took out two plates. 

"Jondy..." he started slowly. She coughed and gave him a hard look that shut him up quickly. Who was he trying to kid when he said he was the one in charge? He knew very well that Jondy had a way of taking charge and calling shots before anyone even realized what she was doing. So he crossed his arms leaned against he counter and watched her bounce happily to a song in her head as she fixed the pizza. 

She sang softly to herself, not paying any attention to Zane. "Hey, boy, take a look at me, let me dirty up your mind. I'll strip away your heart from here, and see what I can find." She shook her hips in time with the beat in her own head before sending a grin in his direction. "The queerest of the queer. The strangest of the strange. The coldest of the cold. The lamest of the lame. The warmest of the tears." She danced up next to him and swung hip length hair over her shoulder and posed as she kept singing. "I hate to see you here, a joke behind the smile, a fate behind the fear." She was laughing at his confused expression. "You just know nothing about pre-pulse music, do you?"

"No. You were the one who had the collection," he waved his hands in the air and shook his head. 

"Yes, the best collection ever and it's all blowed up now." She pouted sadly and looked at the floor. The beeping of the microwave seemed to perk her right up as she skipped over to it.

"Now, what did you find?"

"I haven't eaten yet!" she called shoving a plate in his hands and picked a piece pizza off of her own and walked with them into the living room, sending one backwards glance to see if he was following.

"You're impossible…" he started but took a bite of pizza without finishing the thought. 

"Impossibly beautiful!" she laughed and sat down with a plop on the couch. When he entered the living room he found her playing with the empty Maraschino jar, making the left over red juice coat the side with a film of pink. It seemed to consume all of her attention even as she chewed on the pizza. 

He sat down with more grace and found Sasha at his elbow looking at him with wide brown eyes. "No way."

"What did I do this time?" Jondy asked looking away from her jar with a start.

"I was talking to the dog." She frowned and shook her head mockingly. "What?"

"Weirdo," she answered before turning to the dog. "He's such a weirdo, talking to a dog." Zane did his best I'm-annoyed look, and went back to eating his pizza.

"He lives in a pent house in the money district…" she began without preamble. "I checked it out and there are a couple viable entrances, and more importantly exits."

He nodded his head, looking at the vast change in her demeanor. She was all business now that she was talking about getting the needed information to find Zack. "Are you sure that we need to be breaking in to get this stuff."

"He's the last person whose seen Zack, from everything that I can gather if he sent Zack away somewhere he's not gonna want him to be found." She shrugged, "since we aren't gonna let that happen, I'm stealing the info. You got a better idea?"

"No, it's your show. I trust your judgement." He answered quickly, and watched as she stood up and walked towards the door. She lifted up her leather jacket and searched through the pockets. 

"I know it's in here!" She smiled triumphantly and pulled out some folded pieces of paper. "Layout of the apartment." She supplied because of his questioning eyebrow. She tossed them to him and sat back down with folded arms and watched as he looked through the papers. 

"Rich bastard, isn't he?"

"Loaded," she answered, "but that's not the present concern."

"He'll probably have security then…"

"Nope, he's loaded but apparently not as paranoid as he should be for someone with half the city gunning for him." She shook her head sadly at what she took for a very stupid move and shrugged. "Makes our job that much easier."

"Good." He looked up to meet her eyes that were watching him unflinchingly. "When do we do this?"

A smile slowly spread across her lips, "tonight."

"Everything's together?" He blinked doing mental inventory of supplies. 

"Not like we have all that much we're going to need," she tilted her head wiggled her eyebrows. "We use two ropes to get in, a blank CD to copy computer files, a bag for any in hard copy, and guns for any trouble we run into." She glanced up at the ceiling in thought before they flicked back down to him. "Nothing heavy, we aren't there for an assault, just a precaution."

He nodded his agreement and then smiled, "so I got the bomb for nothing?" 

She looked appalled, "Of course not!" Her grin was evil; "It's what we detonate in celebration when we finally find Zackie-poo." She clapped her hands, reverting to the Jondy that he knew and loved. "Fire! Fire!" A giggle almost made him jump, "fire pretty."

"You need mental help…"

"Uh uh, I am perfectly insane, and that's how I like it." She stood up and threw a crust to Sasha and smiled sweetly. "I'm gonna take a shower, it won't be dark for an hour."

He grinned cheekily, "want any help?"

"Of course, but Krit's with Syl now, so I think that would just be wrong." She laughed and he saw a trail of gold and blue as she dashed for the bathroom avoiding the pillow he threw at her.


	4. Mission Impossible=bad movie

Disclaimer: If I tell you it's all mine will you leave me alone?"

Author's Note: I love writing this! Can you tell that I'm having fun with this one? Woohoo! Chick read it FIVE times! Now that's just cool. You people are great. I find, however, that this probably isn't very good for my rep…my suitemates have to be hearing me over in my room, all by myself, giggling like a maniac. I talk to myself a lot when I'm writing too, so that probably doesn't help much. So if the fic stops suddenly its cuz someone decided to ship me off to the funny farm…which isn't very funny. I notice a lot of you are worried whether this is gonna be a Jondy/Zane or a Jondy/Zack. Stop worrying, all shall be revealed in time.

Review, it makes me happy, gives me ideas, and just cause I said so.

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 4: Mission Impossible was a bad movie

"I'm going in, and since two of us is just asking for attention, you're staying out here and you're gonna watch for when, or if," she shrugged with a smile, "I get into trouble." Jondy looked Zane straight in the eye and put on her determined face.

"No way, you're staying out here and I'm going in." He protested looking at her with serious green eyes. They were standing, both in all black, on the roof of a building in the money district. A building that just happened to be right across from Eyes Only's pent house. A rope was tied around Jondy's waist as she stared him down. A braid hung over her shoulder down to her waist, and caused him to wonder if she had streaked her hair just for the purpose of braiding it, the colors blended together beautifully. It was probably that distraction that lost him the argument.

"We're dealing with a computer, not a car…" she started and raised an eyebrow to stop him from butting in. "I might be crazy and reckless but I know computers better than you, and I'll be on my best behavior…promise." She planted a kiss on his forehead and leaned back with a grin. "Besides, you'll be out here ready to save the day the second this goes sideways."

"Why am I not reassured?"

"'Cause you're a worry wort." She rolled her blue eyes heavenward, "You're worse than Zack, swear." Then she took off and jumped from the roof, the rope went taut and swung her through the air and placed a wide grin on her face. Above the other building's roof she let the line go and dropped down in a cat crouch. Once above the skylight she waved to Zane and watched as he disappeared to fall into position, ready to enter the pent house at a second's notice. With a sigh she lowered a rope through the skylight and slid down it. She slinked through the shadows of the dark pent house, moving in a fluid wave and ignored the number of priceless pieces of artwork that she passed, her fingers twitching unconsciously. She heard voices and froze with wide eyes. Taking silent breaths she followed the sounds that didn't quite equal words. With a crinkled brow she angled to see into the master bedroom, sitting on the bed were two people; a man with spiky hair and enough stubble to rub the chin raw of the blond he was presently kissing and ick…groping. Wrinkling her nose Jondy moved on, touching her own chin gently in sympathy with the poor woman.

She passed a glass wall and saw the extensive computer system sitting there, her eyes lit up and anyone who saw her face would be thinking of the proverbial kid in the candystore. A grin split her face as she slid quietly into the rolling chair and let out a happy sigh. Her face became serious as she started breaking past his password protection. She smiled to her self as she ran through the files her eyes flicking through the words quickly, while she listened with half an ear to the sounds coming from the bedroom. Feeling slightly dirty for doing so, but she didn't have a choice she had to make sure they didn't come up for air and find her.

She ran across a file titled "Zack" and another called "X5s" and rolled her eyes, how unoriginal. She opened the file and slipped a blank CD into the ROM. She set it up to download and sat back to wait. Letting her eyes wander they came across a file cabinet. She bit her lip and slid the drawer open, wincing when it let out a soft protest. Her fingers ran over the folders stopping at the one with "Zack" written on it in sloppy caps. She rolled her eyes again at the unoriginality and picked the file up. It was slim and she had the sudden urge to take off her gloves and feel the smooth surface of the folder. She opened it slowly and was staring at a twelve-year-old Zack in a mug shot. She smiled down at it sadly, and placed her fingers over his cheeks.

There was a loud ding when the file finally downloaded and Jondy froze for a heartbeat looking at the computer with wide eyes. "Traitor," she whispered dropping the folder in her haste as she heard all noise from the bedroom stop. She pushed the button that would open the ROM and pushed it into a case while taking precious seconds to delete the history of the file she had just opened and downloaded. Jondy was sprinting for the skylight when she heard the unmistakable sound of a shotgun being readied to fire. "Don't move!"

She froze in her tracks and her hands came up in a sign of surrender. She heard the front door open and prayed that it was Zane but a shouted, "Hey, Logan!" dashed her hopes.

"Max, in here!" A man's voice called back cautiously, she figured it must be Logan.

She heard footsteps but stayed motionless, her back to the gun. Definitely not the way she wanted to be facing. "Woah, what happened?" another male voice laughed from behind her; it was achingly familiar but for some reason she couldn't place it. It got labeled Max.

"I caught her sneaking out." The tone changed when he addressed Jondy. "Turn around."

"Aren't you supposed to get them when they're sneaking in?" Max laughed again.

"You aren't scared of little ole me, are ya?" She asked in her best Southern belle as she turned around, the solid weight of her braid hitting her back reassuringly.

"I choose to reserve judgement." Logan answered his mouth going slack for the barest of seconds when he saw her face; one corner of her lip curled knowing the effect she had on people. She stared him straight in the eye and ignored everyone else in the room. "Put it down," he commanded.

She blinked slowly in confusion and he nodded to one of her upheld hands. Her eyes flicked to her right hand, her stomach dropping, thinking that it was the disk. It wasn't it was a silver statue of a cat sitting tall and proud, moving her torso a fraction of an inch she found the disk was tucked away securely in her catsuit. She blinked again trying to remember just when she had picked the statue up. Biting her lip she silently berated her hand for having a mind of its own and labeled herself a clepto. Her eyes flicked back to Logan and opened her hand to let it fall. 

"Do you really need that shotgun on me? Four against one seems a bit much." She smiled, "I'm just a girl in the world, that's all that you'll let me be. I'm just a…You're obviously not _No Doubt _fans."

"You're a thief," he said dispassionately pointing at the statue.

"His powers of deduction are amazing."

She put on her sexiest smile, "I was running out of blue hair dye," she deadpanned. "Don't you just think roots are atrocious?" She moved her eyes over the rest of the troupe who watched silently. The blond hung back towards the bedroom; Jondy had to stifle a smile at her bright red chin. A woman with long brown hair and large brown eyes stood next to Logan eyeing the shotgun unhappily, but said nothing. She looked oddly familiar; causing a twang in the back of Jondy's mind; with a narrowing of eyes she dismissed it and moved on. Then she looked towards the last man standing in the room, lounging indolently against a wall, and her breath caught in her throat painfully. 

With the face she could hear a stifled scream, one of her own, as a knife slid from her upper thigh down to her knee. She could feel that perfect jaw crumble into crystalline shards under her fist, and then, even more confusing, she could feel the memory of those perfect lips against her own. Her mouth dropped and her arms lowered slightly in her surprise, she mouthed 'Ben.' She could see him jump slightly, his stance not so relaxed anymore, but electric blue eyes met sky blue ones and Jondy knew that this was not the scared boy from her childhood or the confused man that he had grown into, this was another person entirely. Then Logan was talking.

"What are you here for?"

"Did she take anything else?" The brunette asked, her full bottom lips forming a perpetual pout. Logan shrugged in response. Those brown eyes flicked to Jondy and there was a tiny spark that died almost immediately after it was born.

She looked back at Logan, having to tear her eyes away from the man that she knew wasn't Ben. "Money," she licked her lips, "told you, roots are bad." She smiled suddenly, showing off long fangs.

There was a high-pitched squeak and three heads swiveled around to see Zane holding a gun against the blonde's head. "I suggest you drop the artillery," he said very quietly. He looked at Jondy and shook his head, "miss me, J?" 

"Horribly, Z." She made a few sniffling sounds for effect.

"Where did you come from?" Logan said quietly, edging towards Jondy.

"Bedroom window was open," Zane blinked at him. "You should lock that if you don't want company."

"I had a boyfriend like you once. You know what I told him?" Jondy started. Before Logan had the chance to answer he was on the ground his shotgun flying through the air, as Jondy's own handgun was trained at the woman with brown hair, her heavy boot keeping Logan on the ground. "That he was the worst lay I ever had. Uptight guys are just no fun in bed."

"Is that so?" The man she was trying not to think of as Ben asked.

"Mm hmm," She watched him for a long moment, and idly wondered if Max was anything like Ben had been. He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze but otherwise seemed unaffected by the sudden change of power around him. 

"See, you aren't missing anything?" Max asked smiling at the brunette.

"Shut up!"

"The maturity level in the room just dropped…which is _amazing_ 'cause I'm here." Jondy raised and eyebrow and smiled at the woman with brown hair in warning, when she started to move. "We aren't here to hurt anyone, we don't even want to hurt anyone" she let her foot press against Logan's chest until he groaned, "but we will if we have to." The brown eyes went hard when she heard Logan's groan but she stood relaxed under the gun. "I came for something that I have no intention of leaving without." 

"Did you get what you came for, by the way?" Zane asked keeping his eye on the Ben look-alike warily. 

"Yeah, but I have a concern."

He shot a glance at her, "what is it?"

"I don't exactly want them able to follow us…" she tisked at the brown haired woman who had started to inch towards her when she had looked at Zane. "Bad move, babe, we got guns and you got nothing…"

"A gun's not gonna do you any good," she cut in, her voice sounding like velvet.

"Even if you are a transgenic," Jondy finished undeterred. 

"How did you…"

"Lucky guess," she cut her off, her eyes shifting to 'Max' meaningfully. 

"I think I might have a solution," Zane's voice shook and Jondy wondered for a second what was so funny until he held up a pair of handcuffs. 

"Where'd you get those, you rascal?"

"Chick had them on her."

Jondy wiggled her eyebrows down at Logan before looking at the blond, "naughty girl." She caught the cuffs that he threw her way with one hand and motioned Max over towards the brunette. "Hand cuff yourselves together," she ordered. She waited patiently as they did, both looking like caged beasts very ready to snap. Holding her hand up Zane tossed her the other pair of handcuffs he had kept out of view until then. "Now hand cuff yourselves to the pipe over there," Jondy smiled sweetly and tossed the cuffs to Max. He didn't move for a long moment but she lifted one eyebrow in challenge and lifted her gun a little higher. "Two genetically enhanced killing machines with guns…two without. Weigh the odds and…we win!"

"Maybe we can help you…" the brunette started.

"Yeah, ri-ight," Max rolled his eyes.

"Shut up."

She ignored the surprised looks she received and the banter just pleased when they did as she asked. "You don't have to do this," Logan spoke up from under her boot, calm for a man who had just found out what his catburglar was.

"Do what?" She asked as she looked down at him with wide blue eyes. "I haven't even done anything all that bad. Yes, I broke in, but its not like I hurt anything and…I'm even gonna leave the key to the handcuffs! I'm not steeling anything…not _technically_." She waved the hand that didn't hold the gun; "I just have copies."

"I thought you were stealing the statue."

She blinked at him and raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "I lied, I have sufficient blue hair dye to avoid roots for a while."

"Time to go," Zane called and motioned towards the bedroom.

"Animal…" Jondy bit her lip with a smile.

"Well, I deserve something for saving your ass."

"My hero," she looked down at Logan and cocked her head sideways. "Stay." She lifted her boot off of him, but kept the point of her gun on his gut. They backed out of the room with the blond still in Zane's grasp and Jondy waved, "it's been swell but the swellings gone down." 

"We ready?"

"Uh huh." Zane handed her a key and with a smile she tossed it across the living room while Zane shoved the blond away from him and they took off through the bedroom window. They landed on their feet and Jondy gave Zane a huge grin, "that was more fun then I thought it would be." 

"I should have known you were going to get into trouble," he ground out before they took off running.

"Yes, you should have!"


	5. A different perspective

Disclaimer: well, I could say it was mine but I'd be lying through my teeth.

Author's Note: Jillybean, I actually thought about that while I was writing that particular chapter. See this is how I figured their inability to fight Jondy and Zane…they didn't get a chance to. They start out in complete control; Jondy's just some chick who broke in nothing to worry about, right? Why would they need to fight? Then Zane shows up and puts a gun to Asha's head; they can't unarm him before he blows her brains out, not even if he had been a normal human. And then Jondy took down Logan; they never actually made any move against Max and Alec. Logan had moved away from Max so she wasn't close enough to do anything before Jondy had a gun on her. Logan and Asha were the key to keeping them in line. They never got the chance to fight even if they would have been better then Jondy and Zane. I thought it out, maybe I got a couple holes but I figure it was plausible enough. And yes, Jondy thinks that Alec's name is Max. 

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 5: A different perspective

"Logan!" Alec yelled, "get off your ass and get the key!" He didn't sound very happy, something about the girl had bothered him. Max thought the phrase thrown off was probably the best description.

"Hurry!" Max added tugging on the cuffs. Logan groaned and turned over clutching at his chest but made his way over to where the key had landed. Max's eyes moved to where Asha was lying on the floor breathing heavy. She couldn't stop the roll of her eyes before she looked at Alec, his full lips had pressed into a thin line and she wondered why she had bothered him so much.

"That was fun," Logan said wryly as he handed the key to Max. 

"Please let it be the right key," Alec ground out underneath his breath. Max spared a glance for him while she tried the key first in the handcuff on her wrist. She twisted and nothing happened, she groaned softly as she uncuffed them from the pipe. "Great, just great."

"Shut up, Alec." She held up their connected hands and glared at Asha, "why exactly were you carrying two sets of handcuffs?"

"Yeah, why?" Alec asked with raised brows and a smirk. Asha just looked at them with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open.

"She needed them for an S1W strike," Logan interjected smoothly shooting a glance in Asha's direction.

"For someone who has a gun waved in her face most days she's not taking this too well," Max muttered under her breath. "The woman said she got what she came for, what did she take?" She asked through clenched teeth tugging her arm to pull Alec along into the kitchen.

"I don't know," Logan answered. "I didn't think there was anything really special about her, so I thought she'd only taken the statue." He ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"A woman looks like that and you think, what? She's normal?" Alec pinched the bridge of his nose and saw the statue lying in the hallway. "Well, the statue's still here, so it's not what she came for," Alec cut in and tugged back.

"Then what did she take?" Asha came up, having finally calmed down.

"She said she had a copy of something," Max closed her eyes, trying to think as she tugged on Alec's cuffs, "stop that!"

"You started it," he ground out and started to walk to the computer room. She dug her heels in and glared at him. "Come on," he pulled his arm hard enough that she tripped forward, his free arm slipping around her to hold her up. They froze for a heartbeat before they resumed glaring at each other.

"What could they have copied?" Logan said suddenly, from behind Alec.

"Files," he answered finally scooping Max up against him so her legs dangled off the ground. She struggled and he just tightened his grip and smirked down at her. "Can't you just trust me for once?"

"Is that a trick question?" She hit her free hand against his stomach making him let out a very satisfying "oof."

"Apparently," his tongue darted out to lick his lips and he looked over at her, their eyes level and lips inches apart. She finally stopped struggling. "Do you want to catch those two?" He waited for her stiff nod. "We can't run after them and have any hope of catching them handcuffed together, so we have to find what they came for." He set her down; their bodies still close together. "Think…she said she had copies, she didn't have anything on her big enough to hold papers. It had to be a disk, disk equals computer."

"So the computer room," she said dragging him along. 

He just rolled his eyes and smirked at Logan who was watching with thin lips. "Get me a screw driver, will ya?"

"Why?" Logan followed them to the computer.

"Because I don't really look forward to being stuck with Max on my arm all night."

"Like I _wanna_ be attached to you," she said sitting down at Logan's computer. Logan left and she tried finding what their thief had copied one handed. "What are you doing?" She snapped, glancing at Alec who was reaching under the table next to the computer, half pulling her out of her seat.

He shot her a withering glance but otherwise ignored her feeling with his hand, since he couldn't get all the way under the table because Max had refused to move anymore. His finger brushed a folder and he tugged getting her to move just enough for him to lean in and grab it. He held it up infront of her face and gave her a smirk before dropping from the balls of his feet to sit Indian style next to her chair.

She went back to ignoring him with a huff, still trying to find the file history. "Whatever she downloaded she erased." Large brown eyes shifted to blue ones when she felt a tug on her arm. "What?"

"Stop with the attitude for five seconds." He held up the folder again and shook it. She snatched it out of his hands and, without looking at the file's name, opened it. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the picture of Zack. "Give you two guesses which file she downloaded."

She looked back at Alec and had to bite her tongue. "Why would anyone want to find Zack?"

"He's a killer Foosball player?" He raised an eyebrow in her direction. "I can think of a couple hundred reasons and that's _with_ them knowing he has amnesia." 

She worried on her lip as she slowly turned back to the computer. "Logan didn't keep the address of where we sent him, did he?" her voice was small as she searched for Zack's file.

"This is Logan, he's not completely stupid." Alec rolled his eyes and rested his head against the closest soft surface; not even realizing it was Max's thigh.

Too worried to notice, she read Logan's notes on Zack. He didn't keep the whole story, nothing was mentioned about her involvement but it did mention Bud and Mary Thompson. "Not completely anyway," she sat back with a sigh. "Something was off about those two." She mused quietly.

"What do you mean?" Alec narrowed his eyes as he looked up at her.

"They didn't seem…they knew what they were doing but…"

"They didn't seem like the type to be knocking places off to find transgenics to sell?"

"Kind of."

"So what exactly is the type for that?" he cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

She glared at him and yelled, "Logan!"

"What?" she heard the muffled reply from the guestroom.

"Hurry up with that screwdriver."

~*~

"How'd you know they were transgenics?" Zane asked suddenly, as he lay back on the couch and dangled his feet over the armrest.

"You actually think there's a normal human running around that looks exactly like our brother?" Jondy raised one eyebrow and gave him a half smile.

"Who _was_ that?"

"I don't know, I think they called him Max," she bit her lip and stared out the window with her arms crossed over her chest, "but it wasn't Ben."

"Maybe it was," he said in a small voice full of hope, watching her.

"Ben's dead."

"We thought Zack was dead too."

She turned to look at him, her blue eyes serious for once. "I looked into his eyes, it wasn't him, trust me." When he saw her eyes he knew it was time to back off. There was a lot about Jondy's past that he didn't know, things that when you mentioned them she would get this far away look and you knew she was close to shutting herself down. Ben was one of those things, he didn't know what happened but it was something that had hurt her. 

He thought for a moment trying to figure out what to change the subject to. "And the brunette, how'd you know about her?"

A grin spread across Jondy's face, "that really was a lucky guess."

"Was it just me or did she look familiar?" 

"Maybe she's a look alike too." She laughed and hit her head against the window. "I keep thinking I know her from somewhere."

"Yeah…"

"We almost ran into a very big problem with two transgenics."

"We really lucked out on those handcuffs," he laughed leaning his head back on the couch.

"Yeah, good thing one of the hostages liked it with kinks," she walked over to the couch and plopped down next to him.

"She could have been in law enforcement," Zane supplied, willing to give the blond the benefit of the doubt.

Jondy raised her eyebrow, "Uh uh." She bit her lip on a smile; "I got an eyeful of groping before I found the computer." She shuddered. 

"Poor thing," he patted her arm. He lifted his head and turned towards her, "so what's on the disk?"

She held it up and cocked her head as she looked at the case. "I don't know. Tomorrow I'll go see what we got."

"Shouldn't we get out of Seattle while the goin's good?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Nah, we need to know where we're going before we can go there. That's why we need to know what's on the CD." Her leg started twitching, Zane had known that her period of calmness wouldn't last for very long. Sometimes he had to wonder how someone like her had managed to come out of Manticore. 

"Are you about to start doing flips?" He smirked at her.

"No…I might scale the apartment building but flips are just so…over done." She smiled and jumped out of the chair. "I want food! Do you want food?"

"I want sleep."

"You're boring. Come on, you need less sleep than normal humans, take advantage!"

"What exactly do you want to do with our night? I probably can't sleep anyway." he raised his eyebrows suggestively and smiled.

"Welcome to my world." She smirked and started to sing, "welcome to my nightmare. I think you're gonna like it, I think you're gonna _feel_ like you belong." She laughed and suddenly her face went very serious as she leaned towards him sliding her hands up his arms; she stopped with her lips millimeters away from his. He leaned into her touch, his eyes watching as her tongue darted out. "How about Chinese?"

"You love toying with me…" He shook his head and watched her straighten.

"You're just so easy," she smiled and pulled on his arm. "Come on." She jumped up and down and clapped her hands; "I wanna go clubbing!"

He looked at her face that seemed to glow and groaned, "no way."

"Oh, please, Zane…It'll be fun." She grabbed at one of his hands and shook it while she jumped.

"Tomorrow we'll go clubbing after you find out what's on that CD, how's that?"

She pouted but he kept his face stern. She narrowed her eyes at him her lip still sticking out. Then she huffed softly and slumped, "fine…but we're still going to get Chinese now."

"All right, Chinese it is." She smiled down at him and hoisted him off the couch. She didn't move back as he came up so they were standing with their bodies flush against each other. They stood with their eyes almost level for a long time a strand of blond having fallen into Jondy's eyes. With a shaking hand he brushed it off her forehead and let his fingers trace the curve of her cheek as he dropped his hand. 

She took a sudden step back and grinned. "Chinese!" She grabbed his hand, turned on her heels, and dragged him out the door.


	6. Um...oops?

Disclaimer: Fan fiction. Written by a fan not an actual writer of the show or by Mr. Cameron himself. No I don't own any of the characters, though the characterization of Jondy and Zane are mine. Woohoo, I own something!

Author's Note: Hi! How ya doin'? I notice that you've all started to slack off on reviews and I'm deeply hurt by this…but I think I'll survive. JondyNXD, You're quite the gusher aren't you? Which is good, I like that in a reader ::very large grin:: If you have ideas about stories write them. Fear is not a good enough reason to not do something. If you want help with them, feel free to email me and I'll help anyway I can. Trust me. Everyone whose been reviewing, I love you people. You make my posting my work worthwhile. Keep it up and I'll keep it up.

Review! You know you wanna.

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 6: Umm…oops?

"On this Perfect day, nothing's standing in my way," Zane woke to Jondy's singing from the bathroom. "On this perfect day when nothing can go wrong," he groaned and rolled over, burying his face in his pillow. It was ten in the morning; they hadn't gotten home until four. He couldn't help cursing the genetic anomaly that allowed her to sleep one hour and feel like she had slept ten. "It's the perfect day tomorrow's gonna come too soon I could stay forever as I am on this perfect d…oh fuck." Suddenly the singing stopped and there was a crash.

Zane was out of the bed in less than a heartbeat and was running for the bathroom. The door was locked and he banged on it as hard as he could, the wood splintered underneath his fist, "Jondy!" He waited anxiously for a reply and when none came he started to panic. "_Jondy_!" He banged on the door again; he bit his lip and stepped away from the door. With a quick breath he kicked out, the ball of his foot connecting solidly to the wood making it fly open with a loud **crash**. 

He found Jondy lying on the floor, curled around herself as she shook. Her eyes snapped up to meet his and she let out a weak smile. Her body convulsed and she closed her eyes against the sudden pain. Zane was running for his room without a second thought and was tearing through his bag looking for his tryptophan. "Where is it?" he muttered and shook his bag. He heard the distant rattle of pills and found the bottle at the bottom of the bag. 

He was kneeling by her side before he even had enough time to realize he had been moving. He was opening the bottle and pouring pills into his hand and he stopped for a heartbeat when he realized that they were his last ones. He cursed silently under his breath and held them up to Jondy's mouth. She took them her eyes never leaving his face as she shook violently in his arms. "It's ok," he whispered into her hair as he drew her in closer to him. Trying to will some of his strength into her body. He thought that she looked delicate, lying there in his arms, and even then he felt the urge to laugh. Jondy was probably the least delicate girl he'd ever met. Beautiful? Most definitely. Delicate? Never in a hundred years. 

Her body stopped convulsing slowly, he felt as her breath steadied and she leaned her forehead against his chest. She let out a small sigh and then sat up, giving him a small smile before standing. "That was exciting," she laughed as her face turned a soft shade of pink. 

"Don't do that to me ever again," he ran his hands through his hair with a groan.

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and half a smile, half her hair was in a braid dangling down to her waist while the other half hung free behind her shoulder. "Aww, but, Zane, I spent two days trying to figure out a way to scare the living shit out you." She laughed and held out a hand to help him up. "What? You think I planned to have a seizure?" 

"Ya never know when you're involved." He let out an 'oof' when his rear connected with the floor because Jondy suddenly let go of his hand. "Why'd you do that?" he asked looking up at her smiling face. She stuck her tongue out at him and went back to braiding her hair, her fingers weaving quickly through the mass. "So much for gratitude."

Jondy tied off the braid and turned to him as he was walking out of the bathroom. She grabbed his arm and pulled him so that his body was flush against hers. Her fingers threaded through his hair and before he knew what was happening she was pulling his head down and he was feeling pure silk against his lips. His head was suddenly spinning and he didn't know if he would be able to keep his knees from collapsing. The world was brutally cold when her lips disappeared from his just as suddenly as they'd come. She was smiling at him sweetly, "thank you, Zane." She was walking past him out of the bathroom, ignoring the vacant look of his eyes. She chuckled softly to herself as she made her way out of the apartment.

He shook his head and heard the slam of the door and took off running. He stuck his head out into the hallway, "Hey…where are you going?"

She turned around with a smile and waved the CD at him, "I'm goin' to find our brother. Remember?"

"Good luck," he called to her suddenly retreating back.

"Luck schmuck," echoed from down the hall.

~*~

Max bit back a sigh as she leaned against her locker at JamPony. She was having trouble listening to Original Cindy talk about her newest flame and it was starting to become obvious that her attention was completely taken up by watching Alec. Less than a foot away and she imagined she could smell the musky scent of his skin unpolluted by cologne because his sense of smell wouldn't be able to handle such an affront. He chuckled softly at something Sketchy said and Max felt like she was going to explode. Lately she just couldn't stop watching him, the way he moved and talked and breathed had suddenly become fascinating and she couldn't figure out why. 

"Boo?" Original Cindy shook her softly.

"Huh?" Max blinked at her, tearing her eyes away from Alec's pursed lips.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just wonderin'" Cindy smiled at her friends and raised an eyebrow, knowingly. 

Alec came waltzing up with a trade mark smirk for Cindy and a nod for Max, "hi."

"What do you want?" Max bit out trying not to look flustered. She'd been meaner lately just for the fact that she was suddenly very unnerved by his presence.

"I wanted to know if you found anything out on the luscious catburglar from last night." He leaned against her locker and she found him inches away as he leaned in to talk to her.

"Luscious?" She rolled her eyes unhappily as she shook her head. "Logan's checking things out and he gave a heads up to the Thompsom's."

"Is that all you're gonna do right now? Let roller boy take care of everything?" He pursed his lips and watched his hands intently. "This girl could be dangerous and we shouldn't be sitting around on our hands."

"I don't have a choice. If the girl _and_ _guy_ show up then I'll take care of it. Logan's the best equipped to find them right now."

"You're gonna find this girl, though, right?"

"Why are you so interested in finding _them_?" She had to stress that they were looking for two people because he seemed to forget that there had been a man in the apartment as well. His fixation on the woman was starting to annoy her.

He shook his head and did his best to look bored. "I have nothing better to do." He smirked again at her and nodded his head toward the desk. "Better get goin', Normal's been yellin' at ya for ten minutes…" Max turned to see an unhappy Normal motioning for her to come over.

"I pay you to make deliveries, not stand around and be a slacker," he handed her the package, "Seventh and Main, Bip bip bip." 

Max rolled her eyes and took off down the street. She was half way to Seventh when a flash of blue and gold caught her eye. Striding down the street in a black leather jacket was one of the catburglars from the night before. Narrowing her eyes she turned her bike to follow her. Max determined that something about her was off…like maybe she was slightly insane. She walked down the street moving her head in time to music that no one else could hear, while she muttered softly to herself. 

The woman stopped at a street merchant's stall, which was selling fruit, and Max ditched her bike, chaining it up quickly. The woman stopped suddenly, as she was talking to the merchant and glanced over her shoulder with a scowl. Max ducked behind a tall man with a trench coat. When she peeked around the oblivious man she saw the other woman walking with a bag of fruit in her hand still moving her head in time to soundless music.

Max followed the figure quietly, trying to blind in with the people around her as best she could. She knew the chances that the other woman already knew about her was good, she wasn't used to tracking people with abilities that could equal her own. The woman turned a corner, disappearing from view, her boots clicking on concrete and Max followed the sound only to find herself in an empty alley. Her body when tense as she strained to hear the click of boots, or soft breathing, and her eyes flicked through the alley looking for a hiding place. Nothing gave the woman away and Max suddenly felt that she had suddenly gone from predator to prey.

Max turned on her heel, ready to take off, only to run right into a waiting fist. The blow was so unexpected that it sent her sprawling. She could feel cold wet concrete against her back as the air left her lungs. She heard a whoosh and then she was staring up into wild blue eyes, "Sup, babydoll?" A flash of white teeth in a grin and then she was flying through the air. Boxes splintered under the impact of her body, she didn't stop to catch her breath but turned the back of her fist connecting with the other woman's cheek, snapping her head around. 

"Not too much, sweet cheeks." She stopped the knee coming up into her stomach and pushed it down, nails dug into her shoulders roughly and she couldn't stop the headbutt that sent her reeling. 

She lashed out with a foot to the other woman's stomach, the loud 'oof' telling her that it had hurt. She shook her head trying to clear the sudden stars that swam infront of her vision. She caught the punch that was suddenly coming at her face and spun letting her elbow land with a **crack** on the woman's nose. "Oww," she let out a whine and then grinned. "Guess it's only fair…" she swept her foot out and Max jumped it, "since I hurt you first." 

Max dully thought that she didn't fight right; you couldn't anticipate her moves. She caught an elbow to her nose and a kick to the back of her knees; she was kneeling on the ground before she even realized what was happening. She caught the knee coming up into her nose and swept the remaining leg out from under the other woman. There was a satisfying **thud** as her ass met concrete. "It takes a lot to hurt me." Max said with a smirk as she launched herself at her.

"Really?" she ground out. Feet connected with Max's stomach and sent her flying over the woman guided by those same feet and then she was back with the boxes, one catching her cheek on its corner. "There's a difference with me though." She heard coming from outside her field of vision, "When I hit you…" Max scrambled to stand and swayed. "It almost always hurts." A hard boot connected solidly with her face. Her head hit a brick wall and she felt hands on her arm wrenching her forward and into a knee. She heard a thought and a nagging voice in the back of her mind informed her that something was dislocated and it was going to hurt like a bitch when she put it back into its prospective joint. Another boot found its way to her ear creating a hollow clapping sound and then she was flying again.

She hit the other brick wall of the alley and bounced off to fall flat on her face, she lay there trying to breath. That nagging voice just wouldn't shut up. It informed her dispassionately that she had lost the fight, badly. She told the voice that that was impossible; she'd never lost a fight before. The voice was laughing now; it was starting to sound a lot like Alec. It told her she had won against Zack because he held back, she'd won against Ben because he had wanted her to stop him, and Jace had been weak because she'd been pregnant. She lost against Brin. Brin hadn't held back and she'd survived because her sister had let her go. The woman coming towards her now was not her sister, and she was an X5 who had no qualms about not holding back. However, what gave her the advantage, that little bit of edge that had landed Max on the floor and her still standing, was that wild glint in her eye. Max had lost.

She felt rough hands against her shoulders, as they started to turn her over her hair slipped from her neck and the hands stilled. Fingers, that shook violently, touched her barcode gently, almost reverently. That silky voice of earlier was no longer confidant. "Oh shit. Oh, shit. I didn't know." Max felt herself turned over and was once again looking yo into those wild blue eye. There was that glint, lying behind that impossible color that she couldn't identify, but knew had lost her the fight. "Oh shit. I'm sorry. I didn't know. I swear I didn't know." The shaking hands touched her cheeks tenderly and Max blinked in confusion. "I didn't know, Maxie."

Max's eyes went wide, "How'd you…"

"Don't recognize me? That's ok, I didn't recognize you either." She laughed uneasily before grabbing Max's upper arm and helping her to sit up. "I'm Jondy…I didn't know it was you. Otherwise I never would have…."

"Jondy?" Max blinked again, almost too afraid to believe. A nod sent braids tumbling over her shoulders and Max smiled. "I'd given up ever finding you." She slipped her arms around Jondy's neck and groaned when her grip was too hard for damaged shoulders.

She heard a squeak as Jondy let go. "Oops…I'm just so excited to see you." She smiled sheepishly. "Let's get you back to my place so we can bandage you up…Zane always has a first aid kit for whenever I'm around."

"Zane?" Max's face lit up at the name. Two siblings in one day was more than she'd ever hoped for after Zack had left.

"The guy who held a gun to blondie's head." Jondy laughed softly, "sorry 'bout that, by the way."

"It's cool, I don't really like her anyway."

"Yeah, she seemed kind of squeaky."


	7. Well ya see, he's a babbon

Disclaimer: um…blah

Author's Note: Thank you too all those who have been reviewing for every chapter, you make me feel special. Yippy. I'm alittle on the out of it side today, for some reason my father decided to call me at 7:30 in the morning when I didn't have to be up until 10 o'clock. The reason you ask? Because he wanted to tell me 'hi' and that he misses me. Sweet, huh? It was, but I couldn't get back to sleep so I stayed up and wrote some. The thing that gets me is it was 7:30 here but it was 6:30 there. Why the heck would he want to call me at 6 in the morning? Anyways, we know where I get my personality.

Review or I'll never write again…ok so maybe that's a bit drastic. 

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 7: Well, ya see, he's a baboon

"Guess what I found!" Jondy called out when she entered her apartment with Max in tow.

"I'm afraid to ask." Was the answer from Zane's room, and then suddenly his dark head came into view as he peeked into the living room. "Uh, J, you do realize that that's the woman from the pent house, right?"

Jondy's eyes went wide and she blinked, "Oh my God, I didn't even realize." She turned to Max with her mouth wide open. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you knew?"

Jondy started laughing as she turned back to Zane, doing her best impression of a little girl, "I got…I got a surprise for you."

His eyes narrowed when he looked from Max to Jondy not certain what to think, "what kind of surprise?"

"The good kind…where you find one of your long lost sister…or I find her and bring her to you." She pointed a finger at him and wiggled her eyebrows. "Guess who was at the penthouse that we held at gunpoint?"

He blinked, his eyes glued to Max's face as she smiled at him shyly. "Max?" his voice was small as a smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

"Show him what he's won!" Jondy flounced over to him and tugged at his arm. "Well, get with the huggin'!" She turned to smile at Max, "Well, go on, I know you wanna."

Max couldn't control the laugh as she threw herself at Zane. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifting her off her feet swung her around. "You realize this means you're gonna spend the rest of the day telling us about yourself?"

"I would…but I have to get back to work before Normal cans my ass." She smiled up at him before turning to Jondy who was bouncing on the balls of her feet. "We can meet up tonight and talk. If you want?"

"Yes!" Jondy clapped her hands happily. "He promised we'd get to go clubbin' tonight. You can come!"

"Well, I usually go and hang out at the Crash after work, if you want to meet me there that'll work."

"Hey, I know that place…" Zane started but Jondy butted in.

"Is your friend gonna be there?"

"My friend?" Max looked blankly at her while Zane nodded his head, apparently finding it easier to tune into the wave length that was Jondy's brain,

"The Ben look alike…" She smiled shyly at Max. "We were kind of curious about him."

"Alec? He's Ben's twin, actually."

"His twin…" Jondy stared off into the distance for a moment, her eyes not focusing on anything. "Imagine that." She shook her head and smiled at Max and waved her to follow her. "Zane go get a Band-Aid."

"Yeah, I was gonna ask." He turned to Max with a raised eyebrow, "How'd you get the scratch on your cheek?"

"Jondy threw me into a wall."

"J!"

"Z!" Jondy threw her hands up and put on her most innocent puppy-dog face; "she started it!"

"That is no excuse…"

"I didn't know it was my long lost sister from military school! You would have done the same thing if she'd been following you!" 

"Ok, maybe I would…"

"That's what I thought." She pointed at his room her lips twitching, "Band-Aid, now." He grumbled but left to find his first aid kit.

Max laughed, "he just does whatever you tell him?"

"No, not whatever…but just about." She bit her tongue and walked into the kitchen.

"So…" Max started uncomfortably, "you recognized Alec but not me?"

Jondy laughed, "don't take any offense or anything," she opened the refrigerator and brought out a jug. "I…knew him. We met up…kind of…about three years ago. It's a long story…" Jondy swallowed past a lump in her throat looking down at the jug in her hands sadly.

Max opened her mouth to say something, but closed it quickly not knowing what to say about a brother that she had killed. Luckily Zane came back in waving a box of Band-Aids. "Thanks."

"Yeah, well, you have to have them handy whenever Jondy's around," he raised an eyebrow at her after she smacked his arm.

"I can't help that I'm accident prone…" Jondy started.

"Yes, you can, you can stop pulling stupid stunts."

"But they're so much fun," she whined tugging on his sleeve.

Max looked back and forth between them, a smile tugging on her lips, the two seemed completely at ease with each other; something she hadn't actually thought possible with people from Manticore. As she put the Band-Aid on her cheek she grimaced trying to figure out how she was going to explain the scratch. Zane turned to Max laughing, "Welcome back into the family…it's the most dysfunctional one you could ever join."

"But so full of love," Jondy finished for him, while making kissing noises in his ear. 

"You're a tease," he informed her with a laugh.

"And you love it."

"Dysfunctional or not I'm happy…I never thought I'd find you guys again, I just wish I knew where everyone else was."

Jondy blinked and turned to Zane, "I don't think she's caught on."

"Neither do I."

"Caught on to what?" Max asked her eyes narrowing, but she couldn't help the smile spreading her lips.

"We know where just about everyone is, darlin'."

"Really?" 

"Uh huh." Jondy laughed at the star struck expression that had suddenly swept across Max's face. "We're working on two at the moment, but we know where the rest are."

Max had trouble not smiling, even as she left the apartment with the promise that they would see her at crash that night still ringing in her ears.

~*~

Crash was loud and crowded and Zane had the sudden urge to tug on Jondy's sleeve just so he could tell if it was just as bad for her. She turned to him and rolled her eyes, "how much meaningful conversation do you think we'll be able to have?" she asked before sticking her tongue out playfully.

"Maybe that's what she's afraid of…" he started.

"Meaningful conversation?" She pretended to think about it for a minute before beaming at him. "If I was faced with talking to me I wouldn't be afraid, it's almost impossible."

He laughed down at her before putting a light hand on the small of her back, "come on, I see her."

"Isn't that special?" She swung her hair over her shoulder and let his hand guide her. She ran into Alec before they could reach Max. Jondy danced away from a drunken man right into Alec, who spluttered at her for a full two seconds before she started laughing, "what? Max didn't tell you we'd be here?"

"No…why are you here?" He raised an eyebrow at her; a flick of his eyes the only acknowledgment of Zane.

"We were invited!" She grinned at him and bit her lip sweetly. "Aren't happy to see me?"

"I wouldn't say that…" he smirked down at her and almost fell over as Zane brushed past him one hand clamping down on Jondy's arm. "Hey!" Alec followed behind them an irritated expression plastered across his face. 

"Sorry…he gets grumpy sometimes for no apparent reason," Jondy threw over her shoulder not bothering too resist Zane's pulling on her hand. "I swear you should be a little dwarf with a pick axe." Zane scowled at her but otherwise kept his course steady. 

Sitting at a round table with another woman was Max, laughing softly at something. Max looked up and saw them, her smile widening as she waved at them. "I almost gave up on you guys," she said with a glint in her eyes.

"You seem to do that a lot, huh?" Jondy grinned and slid into a chair as Alec and Zane slipped into the chairs beside her. She looked up and saw two familiar figures coming towards them. "Logan and the squeak toy!"

"Her names Asha," Alec informed her laughing behind his mug of beer.

"But I like squeak toy better."

Zane poured a beer for Jondy and himself and looked at Alec with a smirk, "she'll be squeak toy until she comes up with something else she likes."

Max was laughing happily at the new nick name and nodded her head at her friend, "this is Original Cindy…OC these are Zane and Jondy."

"From military school," Jondy said with a giggle and let her head fall to Zane's well-muscled shoulder.

"You're her brother and sister?" Cindy asked raising her brows.

"The not so one and onlies."

Alec's head shot up and he turned to them with raised brows, "You're escapees from '09?"

"It would seem so," Zane answered before Jondy could even open her mouth, so she glared at him.

"Why are they sitting over there?" Max asked suddenly, her eyes turned to slits as she watched Logan and Asha sit at a table across the crowded floor.

"Why wouldn't they?" Jondy raised and eyebrow at the two but couldn't find anything that would be out of place.

Alec laughed into his beer, "Max is jealous, since she can't touch him."

Jondy and Zane nodded their heads but didn't bother to ask why they couldn't do such a simple thing as touch. "I don't know why you'd want him…" Jondy started with a laugh.

"No one but her does," Alec laughed into her ear. "Oww." He turned to Max, rubbing his arm, with a scowl; "It's true!" He picked up the ice that had been lobbed at him and tossed it back at her.

"So, Alec, you're Ben's twin? How's that for ya?" Jondy laughed, ignoring Zane's scowl that seemed to have fallen in place the second Alec had shown up.

"It's not much fun." He admitted taking a swig of beer. He leaned over his mouth centimeters from her ear as he whispered, "I think Max holds it against me."

Jondy's brows rose as he looked at him and then over to Max who was talking quietly with Zane. "Why?"

"I don't know. She doesn't exactly talk to me about things like that."

"She just spends her time yelling at you?"

"How'd you know?"

"Everyone has a gun pointed at them and she wastes her time telling you to 'shut up.'" She shook her head and made a tisking noise as she sneered at her beer. "You want it?" she pointed at the offending mug. 

"Sure," he slid it infront of him and rolled his eyes. "Logan has moved on and she's not accepting it."

For a second Jondy didn't know what he was talking about until he nodded in Max's direction. "Oh. Well, I'm sure he was worthy of such devotion at one point."

Alec shook his head with a laugh, "not really. She gets captured and he moved on within a month. I know cause I've talked to Asha, though she denies doing anything with him recently."

Jondy snorted, "so what was it between them?" She watched through lowered lashes as Logan and Asha laughed quietly.

"Max and Logan were apparently 'never like that' and she came back to find she has a virus in her blood that'll kill him…which she falsely blames on me!" Jondy snickered as she saw the unhappy grimace on his face; "She blames everything on me."

"And that bothers you?" 

"Kind of, I've saved her ass a couple times."

"For which I thank you, heartily." Jondy patted his shoulder as he stared at her for a moment, blinking slowly. "What?"

"I'm trying to remember if anyone's actually thanked me before."

"That's so sad." She stood and tugged on his sleeve as an evil grin suddenly spread across her face, "come on."

"Where are we going?" He laughed, looking up at her. He had to wonder why he was even talking to her; it wasn't like he was used to handing out secrets to people, even if they happened to be beautiful girls that seemed to spark memories that he'd never had.

"I bet Max didn't tell Logan we're the good guys…bet I could scare the piss out of him." She bit her tongue on a laugh and wiggled her eyebrows. "Wanna help?"

"Love to." 

He stood up with her when a hand caught her sleeve. "I know that smile, that's a bad smile…what destruction are you planning?" Green eyes met blue and she wondered briefly what had Zane so angry before she smiled sweetly down at him.

"I'm going to get your dog out of the apartment so I can blow it up."

"Not again!"

"What? Pyrotechnics are fun!"

"Not on our apartment."

"But I've only blown up an apartment one time, and it was so pretty!"

"No…"

"Fine," she pouted but then her face brightened. "Then I'll go dancing!" She led Alec away by the arm laughing.

"I think he might be jealous…" Alec started quietly.

"Why would he be jealous?"

"Maybe he likes you…"

"Then he'll be happy when he sees me playing with Logan's head."

"Ri-ight."

"Shush…" She put a finger to her lips, "you'll ruin the surprise." She angled her approach so that Logan and Asha couldn't see her, and when she was close enough she landed two hands down on their shoulders and put her face between them. "Hi, kiddies…having a fun night?"

Asha squeaked loudly and watched her with wide blue eyes, as Logan watched her trying to look calm, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm a girl, I just wanna have fun…what does it look like?" She smiled sweetly, flashing fangs.

"I don't know," Logan's eyes were darting around, looking for a way from the woman standing behind him, looking like a cat that had just caught the canary. He suddenly spotted Alec walking casually by, "Alec!"

He turned surprise written on his face, "I thought you didn't like me. Why are you talking to me?"

"A little help, please?" Logan's eyes shifted to Jondy who was gazing at Alec with narrowed eyes and a sexy smile.

Alec smirked and held up his hands backing away, "Not a chance, she kicked Max's ass. I don't think I'll face much better against the psycho."

"See, I've had a fun day already." She whispered into his ear, and laughed when she heard the sudden gulp as Logan swallowed past a lump in his throat.

"Anything I can do for you?" he asked calmly, blinking at her slowly. 

"Not really…" She bit her lip and looked from Asha to him. "You're the boy who tried to get with my sister…" She said softly glancing again at Asha, "and you're settling for the squeak toy?"

"Your sister?" Logan's eyes went wide.

She smiled at him and straightened, "Yeah, Maxie. Couldn't see the family resemblance?" She laughed and shook her head walking away with Alec, who threw a smirk over his shoulder at Logan.

"What did you do?" Zane asked, with narrowed eyes, as they sat back down.

"I went over to say 'hi.'" She smiled innocently at her sister, "how was I supposed to know that you hadn't told him I was your sister?"

Zane rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his black hair, knowing her too well to believe the innocence ploy. Max's eyes, however, went wide as she looked at Logan, who was now walking their way.

Jondy stood up suddenly, "I'm gonna go play pool. Anyone want to come?"

"Original Cindy'll go with ya." She said with a smirk watching Logan too.

"Me too," Alec spoke up stifling a laugh.

"So you talk in third person, that sounds like fun." Jondy said as she walked away with Cindy and Alec following behind them.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Logan asked Max quietly looking at Zane with narrowed eyes. 

"I was going to…but you weren't answering your phone this afternoon." She answered with a sigh, her eyes slipping over to where Alec stood with a cue stick in hand, talking with Cindy and Jondy. "This is Zane, by the way." She pointed, and watched as Zane nodded not really looking at the other man.

"I think I'm gonna go play pool with them," he nodded over at the pool table and turned to Max. "Wanna come?"

"Sure," she looked at Logan who was watching her unhappily. "I'll talk to you later."


	8. That had to hurt

Disclaimer: Jondy and Zane characterization is mine. And the rest of the characters aren't. Now that we have that out of the way on to the author's note.

Author's Note: Sorry this took so long. I'm on spring break right now and my life is like; I get up go hang out with friends that I haven't seen in two or three months and come home around four in the morning. I then go to bed cuz it's actually five in the morning to me since I'm in a whole new time zone and then wake up around eleven and do it all over again. Yay, I missed home. I'm so much more popular when I'm in Memphis. Everyone, you make me feel loved cuz everyone's like "I love Jondy" and I'm all like "wow" cuz Jondy's a whole lot like me. Woohoo. Fun stuff. She's kind of a bitch in this chapter but I had to do it. 

Review like mad!

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 8: That had to hurt

Jondy gnawed on her thumbnail quietly as she peered about the posh apartment and turned to Zane with a roll of her eyes. "Yup, he's a poor bastard," sarcasm fairly dripped form his voice as he whispered to her.

"Yeah, hate to be him." She whispered back smiling at Alec's snort of agreement and Max's glare. Logan, the poor bastard in question, was oblivious; too busy opening a pre-pulse bottle of Champaign. 

"I know Max wants to celebrate finally finding her siblings!" Logan was saying with a smile, his eyes sliding over to where Asha sat quietly across from him.

"Thank goodness," Jondy called with a laugh; "I've been wondering where I've been for the last eleven years!" 

"Shush," Zane said into her ear smiling. She batted her eyelashes up at him before laughing. 

"Must have been how I ended up here the other night, being lost and all."

"I've been meaning to ask…" Logan started as he started to hand out glasses, placing Max's on the counter for her to retrieve after backing away a safe distance. "Why did you break in here the other night?"

Jondy's eyes widened and her mouth dropped as she looked over at Zane trying not to laugh. "We forgot all about that," he hit his forehead softly. 

"Bad us…" Jondy blinked turning to Asha with her eyes twinkling. "Sorry about the gun to the head, squeaky one."

"My name's Asha," she said with a scowl.

Jondy just blinked at her and smiled sweetly, "I know." She looked at Alec, "why does everyone keep trying to correct me? It's not like I sit around going, 'I don't know your name, you shall be dubbed squeak toy.'" She shook her head and threw her hands up in the air. 

"Are you trying to re-direct the flow of conversation?" Alec asked crinkling his nose when he smelt his wine. The potent smell offending his sensitive nose.

"No…what was the flow of conversation…I seem to have forgotten." She blinked slowly biting back the smile she knew was coming.

"Liar," Zane said tugging on her hair softly. "You know where Zack is…we wanted to know too," he said simply, looking straight at Logan for the first time that night. Even after Logan had dragged Asha over to the pool table Zane had not acknowledged the man unless he spoke directly to him. Logan had attributed it to being something all X5 males seemed to have in quantity: testosterone.

Because both Jondy and Zane had turned to look at Logan they saw the sudden lack of color that washed through his face. "Is that a problem?" Jondy asked her voice coming as close to dangerous as any in the room but Zane had heard it. The untouched glass of wine was placed softly on the counter.

"Somewhat…"

"It's complicated…" Max started when both sets of eyes turned on her. The intensity dimmed but didn't go away completely as they watched her. 

"Complicated how?" Zane asked with narrowed eyes.

"He went buggy," Alec supplied pulling himself up to sit on Logan's counter.

"Stop with the annoyingly un-informative three word phrases and spill," Jondy grumbled her bottom lip sticking out in a pout.

"He died…"

"We know he's alive. It's why were here now," Zane interrupted with a scowl.

"Yes, he is. You have to know the background to understand why it's complicated," Logan said taking a gulp of his wine quickly.

"You can't go find him," Max said with a sigh.

"The hell I can't," Jondy growled.

"He shot himself to save me…" Max said quietly to her hands. "I thought he was dead," this time large drown eyes lifted to meet first Jondy's electric blue ones and then Zane's forest green ones. "Then after Manticore was destroyed I found out that he wasn't dead," She swallowed, "most of his internal organs were machines and they had an implant in his brain to put back together his memory, but it requires several pieces of information to call up a specific memory. So when I found him he had amnesia, basically."

"He didn't remember being Zack?" Jondy asked in a small voice and when Max looked up she saw how she had leaned into Zane who had snaked an arm around her waist.

"No, he remembered being X5-599, that's all." She smiled sadly at them, thankful that Alec was keeping quiet though he seemed he wanted very much to talk. "I found him and he started to remember things, some of them he remembered wrong."

"Like what?" Zane asked, his voice strained.

"His relationship to Max for one," Alec said shrugging his shoulders.

"He thought we were…" she couldn't finish it.

So Jondy did, "lovers."

"Yeah." She nodded a thanks before going on. "Zack had been brainwashed while they kept him in Manticore…and so he blamed the mission to take Manticore down going sideways on Logan."

Heads swiveled once again to look at him where he had sat down at his table watching as Max spoke slowly through the ordeal. "He didn't like you anyways, I would assume?"

"That would be correct…" he confirmed.

"Figures," Jondy said with a roll of her eyes and turned back to Max.

"He tried to kill Logan. So I stopped him the only way I knew how, and it wiped his slate clean again."

"Amnesia central once again."

"Yup, and the doctor said that everything would be the same if he regained his memory so we sent him to a farm."

"Please tell me you have him on that farm with a trained psychologist helping him regain his memory…" Zane said quietly.

"He's there so he won't remember anything at all," Logan said quietly.

Jondy rounded on him, "How irresponsible can you be?" Her voice was dangerously low as her eye narrowed, "bet you just _loved_ that you wouldn't have anymore competition where he was concerned."

"Excuse me?" 

She turned to Max, "You sent him away because he was an _inconvenience_?" Her lips pulled back in an unconscious snarl.

"Didn't you hear? He would have killed Logan," Asha spoke up her blue eyes narrowed.

"You could have found a way around it!" Zane said running a hand through his hair.

"So Zack is on a farm, all unaware of his Zack-ly-ness which can end very very badly!" Jondy's fists were clenching as she started to pace. "Think it through, babe, you have a man who is not by any definition normal, trying to pass as normal. He's stronger and faster and smarter and just plain better." She threw her hands up, "he could hurt someone accidentally, because he doesn't know how to control his strength. Or worse…what happens when something sparks a memory and he's left empty because he knows there's more to him than anyone's telling him. Or, hey, thought! The government gets word there's a transgenic at large, all out there in the open, just waiting to be picked up." 

"We didn't have a choice!" Max raged trying desperately to defend herself from the accusations hurled at her. 

"You always have a choice. You just sent him away. Did it occur to you that we need him?"

"Jondy," Zane put a hand on her arm comfortingly.

She brushed it off, "I need him…"

"We all do," Max said quietly.

"You don't understand…I need him because he wasn't just my brother and you just sent him away."

"Stop it!" Max stood up, her mouth having drawn into a thin line.

"I'm sorry, Max, am I being inconvenient? Maybe you should send me to a farm out of your way." 

"Jondy!" Zane yelled, his voice finally cutting through her anger. She turned to him her chest rising and falling with each heavy breath; she looked like an angry leopard ready to pounce. He brushed a hair off her forehead and made a low sound deep in his throat that sounded astonishingly like a purr. "She did what she thought was right…"

"But it wasn't!"

"I didn't say it was, I said what she _thought_ was right. It's not like she could have called one of us to help or anything. Zack's hard enough to handle when he knows what he's doing. Shh." He ran a hand through her hair and down her cheeks slowly. She nuzzled his hand like a cat, tactile contact calming her down more than the words. 

With a sigh she leaned her head onto his chest and made a sound that could have been a sob before turning to Max who was looking anywhere but at her. "I'm sorry…" she started quietly the words catching in her throat. "I shouldn't have yelled."

"It's ok." Max said biting her lip and looking at her finally. "You had some points."

"I know," she smiled and rolled her eyes. She looked down at the floor than looked up at her through her eyelashes; "we still sisters?"

"Of course," Max wrapped her arms around Jondy, still slightly stiff with anger. Alec smirked at the expression on Logan's face, which could be perfectly described as green.

"We're still going to find him," Jondy said quietly biting her lip as she pulled away.

"Understood." They nodded at one another before they turned to a different topic; Jondy's new ride, the air still tense.

"I rescued it from a guy who didn't know how to care for such beautiful things as motorcycles." She said with a grin that showed her fangs off nicely.

"Rescued?" Logan asked from his seat at the kitchen table next to Asha.

"Rescued." She shrugged her shoulders. "He was killing her slowly I couldn't let that happen, so I rescued her," she smiled at Zane who snorted.

"Meaning you stole it," Alec said with a grin as she swatted at his leg. 

"I rescued her…why can you people not understand this?"

"Because we're all high-minded individuals who don't steal anymore." Max said with a laugh that was close to being bubbly.

Logan glared at her, letting it be known he didn't approve. "It's official all your family are thieves." He said wryly, jumping when Max glared at him.

"All your family are thieves," Jondy mocked and suddenly Logan found himself lying on the ground and Zane was holding her around the waist. "You self-righteous snob," she spit out.

He felt his jaw gingerly as Asha helped him up. He looked over at Max and watched her hand twitch as she held herself back from adding a hand. "What's your problem?" she rounded on her sister.

Jondy ignored her and advanced on Logan having shaken Zane's hands off. She grinned when he shrank back suddenly not trusting any of the other X5s to come to his rescue. "You sit her all high and mighty whining that you're poor now that mommy and daddy's inheritance had run out…but you're still surrounded by priceless pieces of art, you got a kitchen full of food, and pre-pulse champaign coming out the wazoo. Of course, you dress like a bum but that's by choice. You don't know poor." She was staring him in the eye; wild electric blue meeting frightened sky blue ones. She was so close now that he could smell the delicate rose scent of her hair. "I'll tell you what poor is…its waking in the morning on the street because you couldn't find a vacant building to sleep in, its being so hungry you start staring at a fat man wondering if he'll taste good. Being poor is staying with an abusive man because you would rather be hit than perpetually cold and wet." She backed away suddenly baring teeth in an animalistic sneer. "We've all had to claw our way out of a cess pit and you have the audacity to look down on us. I have begged, borrowed, and stolen and I'd do it all again if I had to, pretty boy."

"Jondy," Zane was putting a comforting hand on her harm again, "it's ok. He can't understand, and you'll never be able to make him."

She turned on him, "why not try?" She turned back to Logan; "Every last one of us has had to fight every step of out lives; to keep ahead of Lydecker or some military organization that would love to get a hand on us. You want to understand us? Max's family…let me fill you in on a little bit of my life. You've probably heard some reference to a building being blown up…by me none the less." She flashed a smile that screamed predator and her eye glinted wildly. "What no one, but Zack, knows is that I blew it up on purpose. I sat on a building across the street with a detonator, waiting. Just waiting for Lydecker's men to get inside it. It was a beautiful explosion and I got almost every last one of the team." She leaned in so her face was inches from his, "The only thing I regretted was blowing up my CD collection hat I'd spent a very long time collecting." She smiled down at him; "I didn't really feel sorry for them because they should have expected it. I did what they trained me to and they needed the reminder." 

"That's enough," Max said pulling on Jondy's arm.

"You want to be with a man who can never understand you? He's already taken, let it go!"

Max opened her mouth but closed it with a snap when Jondy's words finally hit her, "taken? What do you mean?"

Jondy blinked, taken aback at the sudden look of apprehension over her sister's face, "him and the squeak toy…" Her voice was suddenly small, "you knew about them, right?"

Max turned on Logan, "what's she talking about?"

"Max…"

"You didn't…" Jondy's mouth hung open as she turned to Zane with wide eyes. He just gave her an understanding smile before turning to watch Max.

"How could you?" She turned on her heel not looking at anyone and left the apartment with the slamming of the door.

"Max…" 

"You asshole." Alec said quietly, his jaw clenched so hard Zane wondered if it was going to break. 

"You played my sister?" Zane asked his voice dangerous.

"Alec," Jondy said quietly, and waited for him to look at her, "go find Max." He nodded and left, jumping off the kitchen counter with a glare at Logan. "I hope the punch bruises," she said sweetly, dimpling.

"I only wish I'd been the one to punch you," Zane added dragging her out the door.

Once outside she turned to Zane with a grimace, "stop me next time I become a psycho bitch."

"I tried to, you just kept going."

"Well, hit me or something."

"Not my style."

"Sure it is," she smiled but it faded when she thought of Max running out of the apartment.

"Jondy…" Zane's voice was soft and hesitant.

"Hmm?"

"What did you mean when you said Zack was more than your brother?"


	9. Can we talk?

Disclaimer: I have this sneaking suspicion that you all know I don't own anything. 

Author's Note: I'm still on spring break so that's why this has taken so long. I'm terribly sorry this took so long but I hope the wait was worth while. The next chapter should be fun for me to write you finally get to find out what I've been hinting about with Ben. No more speculation, you'll know the cold hard truth. Yay! ::evil grin:: it might take me a while to write it though since I'm on break. Isn't that horrible of me? I tell you this big thing is coming up when I know that I probably won't get the chance to update for awhile. Bad me.

Review, it might make me work faster.

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 9: Can we talk?

Max curled around herself, her knees drawn to her chest and her arms hugging them to her. Tangled clumps of hair fell around her like a curtain to cut off the dim light of street lamps that came through her apartment window. She buried her face in the crook of her knees and sobbed hard enough to shake her body. She shook and sobbed and salty tears flowed down her cheeks in torrents and all she could think was that this is not what a soldier is supposed to do. 

Alec watched her quietly, trying to ignore the sobs that he heard being wrenched from her throat. He'd followed her for half an hour until she had fallen into a heap on the floor of her apartment. He waited now for some of the storm to abate, knowing that she wouldn't want him, of all people, to see her like this. He didn't even know why he had come, he knew full well that he was the last person she'd want to see, even if she wasn't heart broken. 

The look on her face, though, when Jondy had told her about Logan had ripped his heart open. He had blindly followed Jondy's request to go after her, but now that he stood there watching her he had time to think. The chances were that Max would beat him senseless if he walked in then, but maybe that was just what she needed. Anger was the best cure for despair and he could get her angrier than anyone else in the world.

With a deep breath he walked over to her and placed one tentative hand on her hair. She turned to him blindly, tears still clouding her eyes, and clutched at him. She buried her face into the crook of his neck before he had time to react. He sat there with her arms wrapped around him as though he was her lifeline and had no idea what he should do next.

His arms came up slowly to wrap around her back and pull her in closer to him. She sobbed something unintelligible and he shushed her softly. "It's all right, Maxie, shh." She smelled of lilacs and motor oil, and he thought dully that there was no other woman who could pull that scent off. "I'll be all right." 

She didn't seem inclined to talk so he sat there holding her and waiting for the floodgates to close, waiting for her to chew him out for following her and seeing her like this. He was at a lose; he didn't know the first thing about emotions much less the type that had a girl blubbering on his shoulder. Should he ask her to talk about it? Should he mummer into her hair lies of how everything would be all right with her and Logan? Should he tell her the truth that Logan was never worthy of her to begin with? Should he sit there quietly and just hold her?

The last won out for the simple fact that he didn't know what else to do. So she sobbed and he patted. It seemed like hours before she pulled away from him wiping at her nose with the back of her hand looking like a child. He wanted to hug her again but thought better of it. 

She stared at him now, as though she hadn't realized whom it was that had held her. He thought it was very likely that all she had known was she needed to be held and someone was there. 

He looked at her quietly his blue eyes taking in her wide brown eyes made red from crying the flushed rose of her dark cheeks and the halo of tangled brown hair. He thought simply that even now she was magnificent and it occurred to him to wonder how Logan could settle for anything less. For a squeak toy, he thought, and had to stifle the snort that threatened. 

Not sure of his welcome he slowly lifted a hand to brush tangles off her forehead, she didn't move away but for a painful second he though she was going to flinch. He wanted to tell her that Logan was a lunatic, that she was beautiful, that if she wanted he would kill Logan and Asha both but all that came out of his hand made lips was a simple and heartfelt, "I'm sorry."

A bitter laugh escaped through a sneer but her eyes were flat, "it's not like you didn't warn me."

"Max, I…"

"I apparently was made to be a chump."

"You're human." He said it softly, quietly, and she almost didn't hear it over the pounding of her own blood. She stared at him with eyes gone wide, "Last time I checked broken hearts came with the territory."

"Why couldn't he have told me?" She wailed; all the training of a soldier flying out the window at the pain that was a dull throb deep in her chest. "He was supposed to love me."

"I think he did," he swallowed bitterly with the thought that Logan had never deserved the loyalty that Max had given him. "He's human too, though."

She growled deep in her throat, "are you on his side?"

Alec just shook his head, and tugged gently at her arm until she let him drag her in closer to place her head on his shoulder. "I just don't know what I'm supposed to do. It's not like I've ever had to comfort someone before."

"We weren't taught to handle emotion," the words were thick and he worried that she was going to start crying again. "It's why it hurts so much," she confided wondering for the life of her why she was telling this to Alec of all people. She should be screaming at him now for seeing her like this, but she couldn't bring herself to push him away.

"What do you mean?"

"I never let anyone in before. He forced his way in, took a sledge hammer to me until I couldn't see straight but I let him." She bit her lip as she blinked scratchy eyes down at her hands, that rested peacefully in her lap. "This is the result."

"No one ever said love was easy."

"What if it wasn't love…it couldn't have been if he's with Asha," she turned to him with eyebrows pulled together thoughtfully. "If it wasn't love than this pain is for nothing. It's worthless, but I can't just make it go away."

"It isn't worthless, Max." He smirked down at her, "I'm not too sure what it's good for but I don't think it's worthless. Maybe you have to look at it as a way of gauging…"

"Gauging what?" She was not too lost in her own self pity to be annoyed with him.

"How good it was at times." She wasn't annoyed anymore when she looked up at him. She had never seen Alec when he was being compassionate…that wasn't true. She had seen his compassion but had always blown it off, never looking at it for what it was worth.

"I want to wallow," she said with a pout and let her head drop into her hands. "Not have philosophical conversations."

"I have feeling that Jondy and Zane would know how to cheer you up better than I would." There was a soft twang in his chest when she looked up at him with a pained smile. "Come on. Let's go over there and Jondy can amuse you with her ability to make Zane's head spin."

"She does seem very good at that."

"Max, she's good at that with anyone she comes across. Zane just enjoys it more than anyone else."

~*~

"I never said that!" Jondy shook her head as they made their way to the apartment.

"Yes, you did." 

"No, I didn't."

"I heard you, J, you said he was 'more than your brother.'"

"I said he 'wasn't just my brother.' If you'd pay attention you would have remembered that." She smiled at him wickedly and swung her hair over her shoulder with a flourish.

"What's the difference?" He threw his hands up in the air and wondered if he should be counting backwards from ten. He knew the only reason he was angry was that to him it was an important question, but to her, like most things, it wasn't. So he gritted his teeth in a smile.

Her hands started moving before her mouth did, fluttering in the air as she looked for words. "To say he is more that my brother cheapens the bond of two siblings, to say he isn't just my brother implies that both things that he had managed to be are equally important." She gloated when he had to nod his head in agreement to her logic. 

He had to grumble at the way her logic, though twisted to everyone else, was perfectly acceptable to her. The problem, though, was it had a tendency to hit its mark even for the people that it confused. He watched for a long time as they walked her looking back at him with wide understanding eyes. She knew exactly the effect her logic had on the unsuspecting. "So than what did you mean when you said he wasn't just your brother," Zane finally asked when their apartment came into view.

"Why do you care?" She asked wiggling her eyebrows at him playfully.

"I just do."

"You can't 'just do,' ya gotta have a reason, Z."

"No, I don't."

"Yes…you do."

"I just want to know what you meant. Its not like it's supposed to be a secret, is it?"

Her smile widened slowly and he had the sudden urge to curse the large dose of feline DNA that the scientists back at Manticore had thrown into their cocktails. She was entirely too much like a cat. "Maybe, my darling Zane, it is."

His eyes narrowed as he opened the door to their apartment and held it open for her. "Why would you keep it a secret," his stomach dropped painfully to his knees.

"Cause secret are fun."

"No they're not."

"Oh, yes they are." He was starting to see a pattern forming for the night so dropped it. She patted her knee and whistled softly grinning wildly as Sasha bounded through the living room toward her. "There's my baby!"

"She's my baby," Zane exclaimed scratching at Sasha's ears happily.

"How about she's our baby?" Jondy asked sweetly, looking up at him with round eyes as she got down on her knees to hug Sasha to her. "None of us love you enough, do we?" she asked tousling her hair. 

"I guess she can be ours as long as we live together."

"So then I guess we should live together forever, huh?" She bit her tongue with a wide grin that could have been a smirk.

Zane blinked as he watched her play with his dog, her face lit up with the simple pleasure of soft fur and a lolling tongue. "I don't think I would complain," he said seriously.

Jondy froze for one heartbeat before she went back to playing with Sasha; she turned to him with a soft smile. "It wouldn't be a hardship for me either." Then she was smiling again, laughing as Sasha licked at her chin and wagged her tail hard enough to knock her off the balls of her feet.

"So what did you mean?" He pursued, kneeling down next to where she had been knocked back on her rump.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, "I just can't turn your mind, can I?"

He smiled, "nope."

She turned to him with eyes as blue a lightening bolts, "He wasn't just my brother because he was also my best friend. For Christ's sake I got my _tattoo_ with the boy, we had comfort systems worked out."

"Comfort systems?" Zane asked with a raised eyebrow, puzzling out what exactly a comfort system was.

"When Zack came around he could let loose and tell me all the things that bothered him while he was making his rounds…things he couldn't tell anyone else because there really wasn't anyone else. I would tell him what problems I'd had while he was away. We would both then make each other feel better about all the crap we had to muddle through. Comfort systems."

Zane let his butt connect with the floor next to hers as he looked at her with green eyes gone wide. His mouth moved for a full minute before sound came out. "Zack actually told you the things that bothered him?" It had never really occurred to him that Zack, their overly protective and demanding brother had actually told anyone what made him tick. That it was Jondy was both a reason for soft joy and a dull ache. "What was the system?"

"He liked to brush my hair and I like to have my hair brushed," she smiled at him as her eyes glazed over slightly. "It's been forever since I've had my hair brushed."

Zane had to swallow past the large lump that had suddenly formed in his throat, "I'm no Zack, or anything, but if you want I would love to brush it for you."

She smiled and he thought his heart would burst, "Anytime, love, any—"

The door to their apartment opened with a thud and Jondy looked up into Alec's smirking face and Max's sad one. "Hi, mind if we bother you?" Alec asked closing the door behind him.

"Not at all, make yourself at home," Zane growled before getting onto his feet. He threw and arm over Max and gave her a soft squeeze, "you ok, little sister?"

She nodded her head, but the red of her eyes spoke differently, "I just need some cheering up."

"I can do that!" Jondy called from the floor where she was rolling with the dog and Alec. Sasha was in doggy heaven as they both wrestled with her. "Better yet, let Sasha lick you. Doggy slobber can cure all that ails you, promise."

"Thanks anyway," Max could feel the glimmer of a smile and wondered at her sister's ability to deal with emotions. She was a torrent of them, a force of nature that didn't hold anything back and Max envied her.

"Aw, come on, Max." Alec call was loud as he wrapped his arms around Sasha's neck. "She'd love to get some slobber on you."

"You'd think with our upbringing we'd all be terrified of her," Zane mussed quietly as he smiled down at them.

Max blinked and turned to him, "you're right."

"Zack used to be," Jondy said quietly as she and Alec mad kiss-y faces at the dog.

"Not possible," Max said letting a laugh flow out of her throat, and enjoyed the feeling of it.

"Trust her," Zane said with a smirk, "she'd know."

"He got over it of course, he had a staring contest with Sasha here until she rolled onto her back for him to scratch her belly." 

"Won over by the big brown eyes I bet," Alec said looking straight at Max.

"I'm tellin' you it's the slobber," Jondy said with a laugh. 

"I've been meaning to ask you…" Max started and made her way over to the couch as she felt three pairs of eyes on her. "What did you mean when you said Zack was more than a brother."

Zane sighed and dropped his head into his hands and Jondy let a wicked smile stretch her lips, "I never said that."

"Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't."

"I heard you, Jondy, you said he was 'more than your brother.'"

"I said he 'wasn't just my brother.' If you'd pay attention you would have remembered that." She smiled at her, blue eyes flicking over to Zane as she swung her hair over her shoulder with a flourish.

"What's the difference?" 

Zane waved his hands in the air before Jondy could go on, "She doesn't want to imply that what she has with Zack is better than him being her brother."

"I take it this has already happened with you," Alec said with a smirk.

"Oh," Max looked mollified for a second before catching Jondy's eye again, "so what do you have with Zack?"

"Why do you care?" She asked, smirking in triumph at Zane's failed attempt to not repeat history.

"I just do."

"You can't 'just do,' ya gotta have a reason, Maxie."

"No, I don't."

"Yes…you do."

Zane jumped up and waved his hands again, "he's her best friend!" He turned wide eyes on Jondy who was too busy laughing at him to see the pillow he hurled at her. It bounced off her head and the satisfying 'oof' had him grinning at her.

"That's good," Max said as Alec watched with a critical eye. He seemed just on the edge of bursting out with laughter. 

"What's good?"

"That he was your best friend, I was kind of worried."

This had her blinking, "worried about what?"

"That you and Zack might have something more than friendship."

"We didn't, but why would that worry you?"

"It would be sick…" Zane choked and Jondy's eyes bulged.


	10. I know she didn'

Disclaimer: well, I'm pretty sure that Dark Angel doesn't belong to me but I bet if it did that I could give it a good sprucing up.

Author's Note: Spring Break is over. I'm sad, I'm going to miss all my friends cuz they all live in Memphis and I'm not very popular in Knoxville…imagine that. So, anyway, bad news for me good news for you…cuz you get updates quicker. So did anticipation run high while you were waiting for this? I hope so…and that it's worth the wait. Oh, dear, it's late and I'm so tired I spelt that weight before I caught the error. Time to go to bed before I have to wake up at 7:30 tomorrow…this morning.

Review like the fiends you are! 

Comin' to Get you

Chapter 10: I know she didn'

"Sick, huh?" Zane said quietly, wincing as he cleared his throat.

"And why is that?" Jondy asked, her voice deceptively calm.

"Because it's Zack," Max answered not too sure why Zane and Jondy both looked like they had swallowed more then they could chew.

"Because it's Zack or because he's what you keep wanting to call brother?" Jondy stood up slowly and made her way into the kitchen alcove.

"Because he's our brother." Max followed her as Zane and Alec exchanged looks and did the same.

"What if you didn't look at him like he was your brother, would it be sick then?" Jondy asked with a beguiling smile pulling down a glass for herself and looking at Zane to see if he wanted one too. He shook his head but watched the exchange with wide eyes. 

"But I do."

"What if I didn't?" Jondy poured something red into her glass and walked past the crowd that had gathered around her. 

"But you do…" Max followed her again, not wanting to give this argument up.

"How do you know?" Jondy stopped in her tracks to look at her sister, before shaking her head and making her way back into her room. "If I don't look at him like a brother and you do it's still sick?"

"This is better than t.v." Alec whispered to Zane who jus nodded his head in agreement making his way into Jondy's room.

"When you grow up with someone they're your brother."

"Not necessarily."

"You don't," Max bit her lip against the sudden feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Do you?"

"I have sisterly feelings for Zack, yes, but that doesn't mean I have sisterly feelings for all our little demented family members. I'd be a hypocrite if I said it was sick and it's not like I'm the only one, either."

"What do you mean?"

Zane chuckled, "Syl and Krit are like bunnies."

"Very fluffy bunnies, if you ask me." Jondy laughed but her grin faded when she saw Max's face. "They stopped looking at each other as brother and sister a long time ago, way before they ever got involved," She held up her hands in surrender.

"And no one has problems with this?"

"Why would it be any of our business? They're happy together…do you realize how rare a thing that is?" 

"But they're brother and sister."

"No, Max, they aren't. We use the term brother for the men in the family because we have no better term for them. We grew up not understanding the differences between man and woman," Jondy flopped down on her bed careful not to spill her drink. "It's only natural that when we figured it out the relationships of innocent nine year-olds would change."

"What do you mean?" Max asked wearily as she sat down on the edge of her bed. Jondy scooted back until her back touched the wall and Zane slid down to sit next to her while Alec made himself comfortable next to Max and got ready to watch the show.

Jondy let her head fall back on the wall with a thunk, watching the people around her warily. "In Manticore all of you were my siblings, brothers and sisters, with no problem." She smiled over at Alec who was laughing softly. "Then I got out and I lost everyone for what seemed like forever. Zack showed up to put me on my feet and left. He came back a year later, got me out of my foster home, put me back on my feet again, and then left again…this time he came back every two months, no matter where I was. Two months to the very day he would come and find me." She felt as Zane dropped his head onto her shoulder, the weight comforting in the dark room and she let her cheek rest against his soft hair. "I didn't get to see anyone else for a very long time, though he told me how everyone was doing just not how to find them. We saw each other so much that there wasn't any room for something else to grow that was more than friendship."

"Then he let us see each other." Zane said, his voice soft and thoughtful.

"With conditions…"

"He let you see each other?" Max asked angrily, somehow it had been easier thinking that Zack had kept them all apart. "After all that crap he gave me about it not being safe?"

"It wasn't safe…"

"But he had no choice, we were determined to find each other…at least this way he had some control." Zane answered with a soft smile. Knowing exactly why Max was angry.

"I got to tell everyone the good news." Jondy said with a laugh. "You should have seen Syl's face. Me, with purple hair and a ton of henna, showin' up at her door with a glowerin' Zack." She sighed and bit her lip, "then we went to see Krit and I was _so_ afraid he wouldn't be my big brother anymore…but he was. The same quick grin and liquid brown eyes." She looked at Max pointedly, "he was still my big brother, somehow we couldn't feel anything else for each other. I guess, some people you just can't feel anything more for." She sighed again and took a sip from her glass, "then it was off to Brin," everyone but Alec had to choke back the tears that came involuntarily at the name. "She was a painter…Zack never told her but he loved her work." She smiled sadly at Max.

"It would have meant a lot to her if she'd known."

"He wasn't very good with emotions."

"Unless it was with you," Zane added, his voice sliding like velvet.

"He had his moments," she smiled, "next was Zane. I got to see him in his horribly ugly orange coveralls…" she smiled down at him and opened her mouth to say something but stopped and shook her head. "We went to see Tinga after that. Big sis was just starting to see her boy, Charlie, and you could tell she loved him even though she couldn't tell him what she was." Jondy pursed her lips as she thought. "We got to see Lis when we left there, and her collection of Teddy bears…those things almost got her caught once Zack told me. Something about trying to bring them with her everytime she moved." She cleared her throat and looked at Max with sad eyes. "He wouldn't let me see you, Rich, or Ben. Too dangerous, he said."

"Sounds about right." Max said wondering where Rich was just then, because she knew where Ben was.

"I went back home then and we went right back to him showing up every two months. Everyone was still my brother and sister…but they had all changed. How could we not have changed in the real world…but I didn't know, I didn't." She swallowed and looked down at her hands like she was fighting back sudden tears. 

"What…"

Jondy's breath caught, "he, Zack, left one time and then right after Ben showed up…" She bit her lip when she looked over at Alec who had gone very pale. "He had changed, more than anyone else had, and so did the way I saw him. He wasn't my brother anymore."

"I know…" Max started but Jondy cut her off.

"He was a man. I didn't look at him and see a brother." She smiled at the opened mouth shock around her. "He showed up at my bar and he had this glint in his eye that I recognized…I saw it everytime I looked in the mirror. It was the glint of someone who was on the edge and was wondering if it was time to jump." She stared off into the dark room not looking at anyone anymore, seeing in her mind's eyes the way Ben had slid up to the bar his lips curling at the edges sweetly. She saw as he folded himself onto her couch and watched her with blue eyes that shined in the dull light of the one lamp she had turned on. "We went back to my apartment and talked for a couple hours, about anything that happened to take our fancy. I'd never been able to do that before, just talk to some guy that I didn't feel sisterly towards."

"Never?" Alec asked with a smirk.

"I wasn't exactly healthy relationships r' us. To Zack's eternal unhappiness, he had to bail me out a lot when things got rough. But Ben and I just talked until…something came to our attention." Alec shifted on the bed uncomfortably, knowing he wasn't going to like what was going to come next. "I was in heat."

"You didn't…" Max asked, swallowing softly. Zane closed his eyes, running a hand through his hair unhappily, he had known that there was a past he just hadn't realized that it was this kind of past.

"You've been in heat, sweet heart…be honest could you have said 'no'? Just try saying 'no' to a man that looks that good and smells that good and to top it all off he's an X5. An X5 in heat attracts any X5 of the opposite sex, they don't have any control over what they do." She looked at Max, her blue eyes impossibly cold. "We had no choice, we couldn't stop it."

"So you and Ben…"

"I woke up two days later so afraid I almost couldn't breath." She looked Max right in the eye, "I was a mass of bruises and scratches and bites and I was _terrified_ that when I turned over he wouldn't be there…I lay there for what must have been an hour just trying to remember how to breath and then I turned over and he was there." She smiled and her eyes shifted to Alec, and he saw the soft wonder that she still felt when she remembered the scene. "He was asleep next to me; Ben always looked…serene when he slept. He was so beautiful." She swallowed and hit her head against the wall softly; she could feel all three sets of eyes on her; fascinated despite themselves. 

"He woke up and smiled, I thought I was goin' to faint with relief. The glint in his eyes that I'd seen before was gone when he looked up at me…" She closed her eyes for a long moment; remembering. "He stayed with me for six months…Zack didn't show up the entire time. I started to get worried and Ben kept telling me it was Zack, everything would be cool."

"Zack disappeared for about three months around that time," Zane said quietly, not wanting to intrude.

"He showed up the exact day he would have if he'd come every two months like he was supposed to." A laugh escaped her lips; "I raised hell for that…but we went out like usual just me and Zack because Ben wasn't home when he showed up. Thinking back I have a feeling that Zack did that on purpose." She rolled her eyes and bit her lip thoughtfully, "We went back to my place and hung out after filling our bellies with some of the greasiest fast food I've ever had…then Ben came home. Zack left with a growl that sounded something like good-bye and…Ben was jealous."

"Why?" Max asked with a lump in her throat, the first words that had come out of her for five minutes. Even with her view on her siblings being in relationships, she felt for the remembered pain that she saw in Jondy's haunted eyes.

Jondy opened her mouth but Zane answered first, "no one was closer to Zack than Jondy…she was the one who convinced him to let us see each other. It was easy to be jealous of what they had, I imagine especially if you're dating her."

Jondy was running a light fingertip along her thigh thoughtfully. "He didn't handle jealousy very well. We fought…really fought," her voice catching.

"Couples fight, Jondy," Alec said not fully understanding why she looked like she wanted to curl into a ball.

"We weren't a normal couple. We don't fight like normal people. We were raised to be violent and that comes out sometimes when we aren't expecting it. So when we fought it wasn't all with words…he put a knife in my thigh and I crushed his jaw, we were wild and angry and we fought like we wanted nothing more than to feel the others blood." She stopped, taking a deep breath, her face angry and sad at the same time, "and then, as sometimes happens, pain starts to mix with pleasure and it was like we went into heat all over again." It came out a whisper so low that Max had to lean in to hear it. 

Jondy stared down at her hands not meeting anyone's eye. "The glint was back in his eye when he woke up in the morning…and left." Her face crumpled, "and I was so angry that I let him." 

Zane touched her hair softly, letting the strands fall through his fingers like silk. He pulled her into him, an arm wrapping around her shoulders. "It's ok, J."

"No, its not…I could have stopped him." She looked at Max and then at Alec, "I could have, and he wouldn't have started…"

"Started what?" Alec asked softly his voice breaking, he cleared his throat and tried to look unaffected.

"Killing," Max said softly, watching as her sister buried her face in Zane's shoulder. Maybe she had been wrong and Jondy didn't handle emotions as well as she thought. Max looked at Zane's eyes and knew why he had had such a problem with her saying a relationship between any of them would be sick. She felt Alec shift next to her and her head snapped around to watch as he stood up from the bed and walked around to her.

He touched her shoulder softly and turned her to look at him, two strong hands cupped her cheeks and he swallowed hard. "Jondy, you never could have stopped him. He was going to snap eventually, no matter what." Max watched with an open mouth as Alec let his hands fall and he looked directly into Jondy's eyes, searching for words that he had never actually understood before. "You made he happy for a time. You managed to calm something that no one else could have, but not even you could have done it forever."

Zane dropped a soft kiss on the back of her head making her turn slowly to face him, her eyes dry and wide, "I keep forgetting, when you're doing back flips in the living room, just how strong you are. You take a punch to the gut and smile and you keep smiling when you stand back up, but you grin like a mad woman when you knock them on their asses." He kissed her cheek gently, "You're amazing."

She bit her lip as she looked at him, "I don't want your sympathy," she saw him pull back and smiled slowly up at him, "though I appreciate it." She turned to Alec and brushed his cheek, "I don't want your absolution, though I …thank you for that too." She turned to Max with eyes as sharp as diamonds, "I told you that for a reason." She took a deep breath and moved closer to Max. "We aren't normal. We don't fit into the mold…and when we try we have a tendency to break it." Jondy tugged gently on a strand of dark brown hair. "We take what joy we can and most of us can't afford to second guess it."

"I just don't understand…"

"Why we couldn't stay brothers and sisters?"

"Yeah," she whispered the word as though it would snap everything into place.

"We did…you're my sister and Krit is my brother and so is Zack…Syl's your sister and Krit's your brother. That never changed just more demotions got added to the relationships. Is that so hard to accept?"

"I don't agree with it." Max said softly but slipped an arm around Jondy's shoulder.

"You don't have to. You just have to accept it." She touched her forehead to Max's gently.

"I think I can handle that."

"Good." Jondy grinned and wiggled her eyebrows. "So are you hungry?"

Max stood slowly and shook her head, "I think I should go home. O.C.'s probably worried about me."

"I'll walk you home," Alec said as he stood up shrugging his shoulders. "About time I got to bed anyway."

"Even an X5 needs to refuel," Zane said with a smile at Max.

"All right…I'll see you two tomorrow?"

"Of course," Jondy answered with a smile and walked them to the door shooing Sasha out of the way. "We'll have a whole 'no crying' day, or horrible confessions…those can tire you out." She ruffled her sister's hair and pulled Alec over to her roughly and laughed up at him. "Thanks," her lips touched his cheek gently and then she was pushing him out the door with another laugh.

She scratched behind Sasha's ear and was rewarded with a low rumble that she interpreted as pleasure and padded back into her room where Zane was still sitting on her bed. "You never told me," he to his hands.

"I didn't tell anyone…Zack was the only person who knew." Jondy ran a shaking hand through her hair and sighed. He didn't say anything just got slowly to his feet and walked up to her. A warm hand touched her cheek and then he was making his way into his room. "Za-ane."

At the whine she watched as his shoulders dropped and he turned around with a smile and one raised eyebrow, "yes?"

"I don't have anyone to cuddle with…keep me company and be my glorified foot warmer?" She smiled sweetly and did her best to look adorable, which could very well have made a blind man cry, especially if he was anything like Zane.

"Sure," he changed course and followed her into her bedroom. He stripped off his shirt and pants with his back turned knowing Jondy was slipping on her knee length t-shirt behind him. 

She was already in bed when he turned around, with a flick of his wrist the room went dark and he padded over to the bed quietly. Sliding under the covers he felt as she shifted to make room for him. Warm hands moved over his chest and she was laying her head against his neck and he couldn't stop the nagging voice in the back of his head. When he cleared his throat it was like a gunshot had gone off in the room, a sudden noise to break the almost perfect quiet. "Jondy…" he felt like this was déjà vu all over again.

"Hmm?" her voice rumbled against him.

"You never said if you thought of me as your brother." He felt as she froze against him and her head lifted slowly. Even in the dark he saw her eyes, as blue as lightening bolts, and his breath caught in his throat. It occurred to him that her eyes were the perfect description of her: wild, electric, untamed, dangerous, and beautiful. 

"No I didn't."

"Do you?" He had to force the words out, apprehension making a cold sweat bead on his forehead.

"Do you want me to?" She asked gently her fingers making nervous circles on his skin.


	11. Whimper

Disclaimer: Characterization of Jondy and Zane are so mine it's not even funny, but the rest of the characters aren't.

Author's Note: First I'm sorry this took so long me and the comp had a boxing match and we are still fighting over who won. It's been an ugly couple of days were it wouldn't let me online or save anything, which really chapped my hide. Next sorry this is short but as I said ugly couple of days with no good writing able to be done…I think I had a true writer's block. I was not a happy girltype. Plus I was disappointed I only got like seven reviews how much does that suck? Do you people not love me any more? ::tear tear:: anyways. Enjoy what you got.

REVIEW!

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 11: Whimper

Her fingers were the most distracting things in the world just then, "honestly?"

"I don't want anything else from you, Z." Jondy sighed quietly and let her head sink back to his chest. His hand played idly with her hair. "If I wanted someone who wouldn't be honest I'd go talk to Lis." The rise and fall of his chest was comforting in its steady rhythm.

"What do you want me to say?" 

"The truth."

"But if you had a choice between 'yes' and 'no' which one would you choose?"

She stood up swiftly leaving him feeling cold. "I would choose the one you wanted to say," he felt her smile and bit back a frustrated snarl. Dealing with Jondy required more patience than most people possessed. "I'd choose the truth over a comforting lie."

"You aren't making this easy," he stood up to follow her through the apartment to the kitchen. The place she always seemed to retreat to when she didn't know what else to do with herself. He didn't know whether it was a good sign or not, but it meant he had thrown her.

"I'm not supposed to," when he rounded the corner he found her head already in the refrigerator. 

"Yes you are."

"No, Zane, I'm not…" she lifted her head to look at him, the refrigerator light casting strange shadows across her face. Shadows that made her look more severe than she actually was. She turned back to the refrigerator with a sigh. "So answer the question. Do you or do you not want me to think of you as my brother?" she lifted her head again her eyes moving over his face and he couldn't breath for a full minute, terrified that he would see rejection in them. She closed the door softly and waited with her hip resting against it.

He walked up to her until nothing but an inch of air separated them. "No," he breathed the word into the dark, the cold night air, and felt as her body seemed to meld into his, her hand sliding up his arm to brush his cheek softly. "Answer my question…" he let his fingers thread through her hair to hold her head gently. "Please?"

"I haven't for a while now. I just…"

He could feel his lips pull taut in a smile and watched her answer it in kind. He had the sudden feeling that he was looking at the most precious think in the world; a smile with no pretensions and nothing hidden behind it. He pulled her in until her lips were mere centimeters away from his own. Her breath was hot against his skin and he had to wonder if she could do this to his body right now, what would happen when they finally kissed. He wanted, needed, to know.

So with a tenderness that was at complete odds with the strength that coursed through his body he pressed his lips to hers. Lights exploded behind his closed eyes and he couldn't contain the soft groan when her hands slid up his bare arms while her body pressed against his. Her scent was in his head just as much as her touch she was roses, wild growing things, leather, and untamed and dangerous. Her lips opened and his tongue slipped inside quickly; she tasted of ripe strawberries, raspberries, and something right sweet and rich that he couldn't name and he wasn't sure he wanted to.

Then she pulled away leaving him feeling empty and abandoned. He couldn't breath so he couldn't call her name as she walked quickly into her room. When he had regained the use of his limbs she was coming back out, full dressed. "Jondy?" he could finally talk but it came out strangled and hoarse.

She looked up at him with eyes that brought to mind a deer in the headlights. "I'm…I'm gonna go running."

"Running?" he asked shaking his head incredulously. "At this time of night?"

She smiled thinly, "I think I can handle anyone who wants to give me trouble."

"That's not what I meant." She bit her lip when she looking into his sad green eyes and did her best not to whimper in frustration.

She closed her eyes for a quick second and then she was kissing him again her fingers threading through his hair and her lips moving roughly against his. Before his body could react with the force that it so wanted she was backing away again slowly. A flush had risen in her cheeks and her breathing was just as hard and fast as his. "I'm sorry, I can't do this right now."

"Jondy…"

"I can't...I need time to think or brood or grieve or whatever and right now I can't even think straight enough to know which I need." She ran a shaking hand through her hair, slowly dragging her eyes from his wounded face. "Until I figure it out can we just pretend that this didn't happen?" He watched as her jaw clenched tightly and he could stop the reflex to reach out to her. When she pulled back he thought his insides were about to crumble.

"I don't know if I can."

"Please, Zane, it's the only way I can figure things out. I know it's not fair but its what I need," the last word was almost a sob.

He nodded his head mutely and she gave him a shaky smile before turning to leave the apartment. Sasha standing at the door whimpered after her. "I know, girl," he sighed.

~*~

"What are you doing?" Max asked sharply, ignoring the smirk that Original Cindy sent her way. 

"Making a call," Alec snapped back before giving her a confident smile. "I get to do that right?" He smiled at Cindy who rolled her eyes and let out a long-suffering sigh.

"One o'these days you two are gonna have ta cool it."

"I really wish you wouldn't make those sort of business calls while you're at JamPony." She narrowed her eyes when he laughed and shook his head. "What?"

"I'm not making a business call…this one's all pleasure…" He winked at her and waited for the phone on the other end to pick up. "Hey, Jondy…" He wiggled his eyebrows at Max. "That's rare…no one usually says they're happy to hear from me." He glanced at Max pointedly, "I _know_ it is sad."

"Why are you calling her?"

Alec pulled the phone from his ear with a grimace, "she asked me to." He rolled his eyes in Original Cindy's direction and went back to talking. "Yeah, that was Max. Well, apparently I'm a threat to you…on to more important matters. Are we going to be having fun tonight or not…that's what I like to hear…I'll be there around eight…see ya then." He snapped his phone shut and grinned at Max. "See…all pleasure."

"If you try anything with her…"

"You'll what? Kick my ass? Been there done that and I have the feeling she would be very angry if you tried making her choices for her." He let the smirk fall for a second, "you don't have anything to worry about."

"Right. I'm to believe you have completely innocent intentions."

"I do," he held a hand to his chest and did his best to look hurt.

"I don't think you've had an innocent intention in your life," she bit out before snatching a package from Normal and leaving. She was desperately trying to act like the night before, when he'd come to help her, hadn't happened. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate what he'd done it was just that she wasn't ready to look at Alec and see a guy that did something nice without ulterior motives. That he wasn't trying to get something out of the events of last night was making her nervous and edgy. That she could hear Original Cindy ask what was wrong with her boo wasn't helping much either.

"She didn't tell you?" Alec asked and she could practically hear his eyebrows hitting his hairline.

"Tell me what?" 

"Go talk to her, she might bite me." 

"You gonna give Original Cindy a hint?"

"If you don't hurry you'll miss her."


	12. Raspberries!

Disclaimer: and we find ourselves here…once again…for the thousandth time. If I don't put one of these up on the next chapter do you think someone would sue me? Do you think some one would come along and read the 12th chapter and go…"gee, she didn't say this was someone else's work, she must be trying to claim the characters for her own." What do you think?

Author's Note: Ever had one of those days where you wanted to crawl into a corner and either ball like a baby or scream like a madwoman? Well, welcome to my world. Oh yeah, buddy. Make it one of those weeks. But my sense of humor has managed to win out even though I'm about to explode. Fun fun fun, for the _whole_ family. OK enough with my pity party. They get boring after while…I need more upbeat music on. I was reading my reviews awhile ago and one of my wonderful reviewers said that my story was better than chocolate and without missing a beat I started singing Sara Mclachlan's Ice Cream. And since then I've been waiting to put it in my story. HeHe. 

Fluffy's life hangs in the balance once again…Review or he's toast.

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 12: Raspberries!

"Four and twenty virgins came down from Inburness and when the ball was over there were four and twenty less. Singin' a balls to your partner your ass against the wall, if you've never been out on a Saturday night you've never been out at all." Jondy's voice sang through the apartment a brogue, which could have been Irish or Scottish, giving it an interesting lilt. "And there was doin' in the parlor there was doin' on the stones but you could not hear the music from the wheezin' and the groans. Singin' a balls to your partner your ass against the wall, if you've never been out on a Saturday night you've never been out at all."

She had come in that afternoon from her very long run a smile plastered across her face and a late breakfast in hand. Zane had just watched her sadly as she talked animatedly, making good on her earlier words of wanting to pretend nothing had happened between them. It was the first time he had realized that he would never really know she was hurting unless she wanted him to. She was a great actress. "The undertaker he was there, all wrapped up in a shroud swinging from the chandelier and peein' on the crowd. Singin' a balls to your partner your ass against the wall, if you've never been out on a Saturday night you've never been out at all."

She came skipping into his room suddenly smiling like a madwoman with her blond hair flying out behind her. She grabbed his hands and swung him around still singing. "Mrs. Mary McFearson was standin' way up front some posies in her hand and a carrot…" She coughed quietly into her hand, "singin' a balls to your partner your ass against the wall, if you've never been out on a Saturday night you've never been out at all." She was laughing loudly and it was infectious. Zane couldn't stop the chuckles that were suddenly bubbling up from his throat. "The village magician he was there, he gave us all a laugh. He pulled his foreskin over his head and he vanished up his ass. Singin' a balls to your partner your ass against the wall, if you've never been out on a Saturday night you've never been out at all." She stopped singing but couldn't stop laughing; her face beaming brightly she let herself fall to his bed with a bounce. He sat next to her still smiling and shaking his head in wonder.

"I'll never get you."

"What you don't like Croce?"

"Who?"

"On my God, you poor deprived child!" She clapped her hands over her mouth and looked at him aghast. "Jim Croce's like one of the best pre-pulse singers slash writers." 

"Jim Croce, huh?"

"Roller Derby Queen? You don't mess around with Jim?" She was waving her hands in the air trying to jog his memory.

"And that was one of his songs?' An eyebrow rose to kiss his hairline gently.

She fiddled with one of his pillows and bit her lip on her smile, "well, not exactly, it's a Scottish folk tale that he sang but it wasn't really his writing."

"Scottish?"

"They're a fun people," she said with a laugh.

"Crude is more like it."

"Fun," she insisted lifting her chin stubbornly, but couldn't hide the sparkle in her eyes.

Zane wanted to kiss her more then anything just then, just lean over and press his lips to hers gently. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was a tangled hallo falling around her that glowed a startling gold in the lamp light electric blue shooting through it vibrantly, and her lips were stretching a grin that seemed more inviting then anything else he'd ever encountered. He felt his body tense to lean in and instead he stood so suddenly that Jondy tipped; slightly unbalanced. "I'm going to see Max, maybe cheer her up, do you want to come?" He asked quickly, running a hand through midnight black hair. It fell back down in his eyes but he ignored it to watch as she stood up.

"I think maybe you two should have some alone time."

"You two were always the closest," he said his brow furrowing in confusion.

"A lot has changed, not that but other things," she smiled and tried to finger comb her hair. "I just think we should have alone time with her. You get her tonight, I'll steal her away soon enough."

"All right."

"So go have fun and I'll just spend the night vegging," she gave him a gentle push and grinned sweetly. "When ya leavin'?"

"Now-ish."

"Ok then. Be good and enjoy yourself." She fluttered bright blue eyes at him before walking from the room. 

"Bye, J." 

He made his way past her to the front door and just before he closed it he paused. He could hear her soft voice as she sang to herself. "Your love is better than ice cream, better than anything else that I've tried. Your love is better than ice cream and everyone here knows how to cry. It's a long was down. It's a long way down. It's a long was down to the place where we started from." He didn't move for a long time. "Your love is better than chocolate, better than anything else that I've tried. Your love is better than chocolate." Jondy's voice was beautiful when she was singing the usual light hearted songs but this was probably the first time he had heard her singing something soft and without the normal flamboyance that was just Jondy. Her voice faded off and with a sigh he closed the door behind him and left to meet Max. Her voice stayed with him through the walk.

~*~

Max sat looking down at her folded hands on the table in Crash biting at her bottom lip nervously. She bounced her leg against the table and jumped when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Zane standing behind her smiling sweetly. "Hey there, Maxie."

"Hey, Zane, how ya doin'?"

"Ah, you know the same old same old."

"The same old doesn't look to good on you," Max said with a small smile.

"Yeah well, life's rough. How are you?"

"I thought it would hurt more," she said so quietly he almost couldn't hear her over the music.

"What should?" He sat down next to her, letting his shoulder rest against hers, "and why do you think it should hurt more?"

Chocolate brown eyes rose to meet his dark green ones. "Why do you think?"

"Why does every woman in my life have to answer a question with a question?" Zane laughed and shook his head unhappily.

"Trouble with Jondy?" Max asked with a laugh.

"There's usually trouble with Jondy," he sighed and ran a hand through his hair and poured himself a glass of beer from the pitcher that Max had gotten before he came. "So answer me with a non-question type answer. Why do you think it should hurt more?"

"The man I love cheated on me. I should be heartbroken right now."

"Maybe you didn't love him." Zane offered tentatively, not sure if she would hit him for the suggestion. She just stared at him for a long time already large eyes going wide.

"What do you mean?"

"I heard a lot of the story, but I haven't been around for it so maybe I'm completely off on this theory…" he shrugged his shoulders and stared down into his glass. "You don't hurt because you were never in love with him…yes, you loved him but you weren't _in_ love with him." He grimaced and met her eyes that sparkled softly with confusion. "None of us really deal well with emotions so maybe its almost impossible for us to tell the difference, but I know there is one."

She opened her mouth to say something then let it snap shut before she took a long swallow of beer. She blinked several times licking her lips slowly. When she did speak it was slowly and deliberately. "Maybe you have a point."

"Maybe I do."

"How do you feel about Jondy?"

The question took Zane by surprise making him swallow quickly so that he didn't accidentally spit beer from his mouth. "What?"

"I've been wondering…though I think I already know." She looked skyward with a soft smile still speaking slowly. "Which one of those do you feel for Jondy?"

"I don't know." He mumbled down to his hands.

"Zane…"

"I tell I want her and she does this thing that she always does when she's uncomfortable she walks away, usually to the kitchen. I figure that's fine I can follow her to the kitchen without too many complaints. Then I kiss her and she decides to go for a run…"

"What?"

"Three in the morning and she wants to jog. It makes me wonder if maybe I'm the only one who feels anything."

"I…have no idea what to tell you," Max said grimacing sadly. "I can't read my own sister, I'm pathetic."

"That's the thing, no one can read Jondy. I've known her my entire life, I've been with her constantly for four weeks and I still don't know what goes on in that head of hers."

"You love her…" Max said quietly her lip forming a soft pout. "This whole inter-sibling dating thing still kind of freaks me out."

"Yeah, well, I figure who better to understand exactly where I'm coming from than someone who was there. Kind of like Alec is for you."

"Alec?" Max couldn't stop the snort. "Alec is not someone I keep around because he understands."

"Maybe you should." She glared at him and he held his hands up in surrender. "Think about it, Maxie, you don't have any confusing sibling feelings for him and he understands where you're coming from."

"And he's one of the most annoying people I've ever met. He's also the cause of half the problems in my life!"

"Max, he's your scapegoat…not a disease. Hey, _maybe_ the virus thing was something of a favor." She raised an eyebrow and he shrugged his shoulders. "It showed you Logan's true colors. He's a great guy when it comes to saving the world but he's lacking in the loyalty factor."

"You're one of those annoying people who tells me the truth whether I want to hear it or not aren't you?"

He grimaced and smiled tightly, "'fraid so."

~*~

"Love is never easy. It's almost always out of your way. It's not the path of least resistance. It's not some words that you get to say. It's a stream running up a mountain. It's a wave rolling out from the shore. I wish I could say I never felt that way before," Jondy sang softly to herself as she scratched softly behind Sasha's ear. A knock sounded through the apartment stopping her. She stood quickly and padded to the front door smiling brightly when she saw Alec standing there leaning indolently against the doorframe. 

"You're early."

"Admit it, you missed me." He smirked down at her and then laughed.

"Oh yeah, baby." She deadpanned before stepping back and letting him into the apartment. She grinned at him on her way into the kitchen, "raspberries!"

"Huh?"

"We have raspberries. Well, I have raspberries cause Zane knows nothing about finding things. I don't know how the boy ever survived without me,"

"We should go into business." Alec said with a laugh falling to her couch. "You could find stuff and I could sell it."

"Oh lord, no." Jondy answered walking back into the living room with a small carton filled with red berries. "I'd be horrible to go into business with, I'd eat all the merchandise."

"Not all of it would be food."

"Oh well, in that case…" She snorted elegantly and plopped down next to him. "Here have some."

"I've never actually had raspberries before," he shrugged and plucked one up.

"Really?" She cocked her head to the side and blinked. "You haven't been out of Manticore that long, have you?"

"Not really."

"You're still in that wonderful trying things out stage."

He grinned at her after popping the berry into his mouth. "Yes, I am. I think I'm in the stage of trying some more of those.' 

"Heavenly, aren't they?"

"I wouldn't really call anything heavenly, but if I had to, sure." He took a handful from the pile this time. "These are so good."

"Why do you think I have so many? Cause I wanna puck everytime I eat them?" She picked up her remote and turned on the TV and wiggled her eyebrows at him. "So which horrible pre-pulse movie should we watch today? I saw a movie called _Chameleon_ was supposed to be on in about ten minutes."

"What's it about?"

"A genetically engineered soldier, ninety-nine percent human one percent animal. She has the eyes of a hawk, can smell blood from a mile away, and she had chameleon DNA so she can change her skin and bio-engineered clothes to match her surroundings. She's learning how to have emotions."

"Sounds vaguely familiar."

"I can't imagine why."

Alec nodded his head and she turned the channel to wait for the show to start. He sighed softly and leaned back into the couch snagging more raspberries. "So, Jond, I gotta ask…you and Zack was there ever any sexual tension?"

"Nope. Despite the oh-so-popular belief, Zack and I never even thought about goin' there with each other."

"Really?"

"Best friends, the whole way. Plus, he was _so_ totally into Max it was ridiculous." 

"Aha! I knew it!"

"You must feel so important."

"I do sometimes." He smiled and then cleared his throat his smile falling. "Your act is better than mine," he said dryly not looking at her.

"How's that?" She glanced at him but looked away quickly when his eyes shifted to her.

"It's a lot harder to see through. You never seem to slip when anyone is around. Me it's like, 'oh he's gotta be ok he just screwed four complete strangers- thank god they were all female- and cleared out half the bar.'"

"Well, if Broadway was still around I could be in _Rent_." She smiled winningly at him and twitched her shoulders playfully and started to sing. "Do you go to the _Cat_ _scratch _club? That's where I work, I dance. Help me look!" She smiled, "this is where you're supposed to go." She was singing again, "Yes! They used to tie you up." Alec couldn't stop the guffaw, "Then I go…It's a living." She batted her eyelashes, "Now it's your turn to sing…I didn't recognize you without the hand cuffs." 

"I wanna see _Rent_." 

"You'd love it." She laughed with him and rolled her eyes "I have the CDs somewhere. If I ever find them again I'll loan 'em to ya."

"Thanks." He opened his mouth to say more but she put a finger to her lips and shushed him pointing to the TV wiggling her eyebrows once again. 

"Movies starting." Alec just grunted as he took another raspberry.

They watched quietly through the opening credits, and then the commentary started. "That's a really stupid helmet she's wearing."

"Did that sex scene just seem really unsatisfying to you?"

"Oh yeah, did she even take off those really stupid looking shorts?"

"Oh she blends in perfectly with the wall!" Jondy clapped her hands and bounced. "I wonder if Manticore made any transgens like that. They'd be a hoot at parties." 

"I never heard of it, but it's very possible." Half way through the movie he gasped and looked down at the carton of raspberries. "They're gone!"

"Oh no, however shall we survive?" Jondy deadpanned as she stood up and made her way into the kitchen. Alec reached for the remote but she waved at him, "don't worry about it. It's just another sex scene it's not like anything good's gonna happen." She danced into the kitchen, bopping her head in time to music that no one else could hear. She came back in holding a large bowl and a can of coke. "See I didn't miss anything?" she said when she looked at the screen.

"You know, I think Kam has got to be a very unsatisfied transgenic."

"She kind of reminds me of Max," Jondy said and then clapped a hand over her mouth her cheeks going red. "I didn't mean it like that!"

"Sure ya did." He threw his head back in laughter when she let her mouth drop as she looked at him. "She hasn't had any action since before she got captured by Manticore."

"That's a really long time." She said aghast the movie momentarily forgotten. "No wonder she turns into the uber-bitch to you. You have to be a source of frustration."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play stupid, it doesn't suite you." Jondy laughed and opened started to open her coke.

Alec pouted, "don't I get a coke?"

Jondy batted her eyelashes at him and simpered, "no."

His mouth dropped open at the sight of dimples and he lunged at her reaching for the can. "Give it me!"

"No!" She screeched holding it out of his reach while trying to keep him from toppling her over. They couldn't seem to stay upright while they wrestled because neither could stop laughing maniacally. Jondy screeched again as she felt them both tip over off the couch and landed with a **thud** and a loud 'oof' that neither could really tell who had managed to get it out. The credits rolled as they did. Alec reaching for the can using mercenary tactics such as tickling.

Jondy almost couldn't breath she was laughing so hard but she didn't give up. She wrapped her legs around his waist so he couldn't climb up her body to get at the drink, or reach up any farther. He finally managed to wiggle so that their faces were even but she tossed the can so that it rolled back into the kitchen. She couldn't stop the cackle at his look of complete surprise. "I have foiled you!" He growled menacingly at her.

That's when the door to the apartment came open. They both froze still on the ground; Jondy's legs wrapped around Alec's lean waist as he held both her arms to the floor with his hands. She blinked up at him and bit her lip on the laugh. "Oh…shit," she whispered. 

"Jondy!" Zane called out still not having seen them infront of the couch, which faced away from the front door. 

"This doesn't look good," Alec whispered.

"Then get off me," she ground out through a smile. Zane came around the couch and looked down his mouth falling open as he saw the two wrapped up in each other. "Hey, Z, how's Max doing?" She unwrapped her legs from around Alec as he quickly got off of her.

"She feeling better?" He asked running a hand through his hair. Zane just stood there blinking not having closed his mouth yet.

"You ok, Z?" He looked at Jondy and turned sharply on his heel and walked into his room and closed the door with a soft click behind him. "I repeat once again, oh…shit."


	13. You have a what?

Disclaimer: I'm not doing it anymore…I refuse to give into the oppression!

Author's Note: So this took a while. I have a very valid excuse…I had a really fun nervous breakdown complete with hyperventilating, hysterics, and crying. Let's just say that I've had something of a bad time and I'm doing my best to not get in over my head. Though I figure you kind of have to be in over your head when you can feel the walls closing in on you when you are outside. Anyways…one light in the darkness was the new Dark Angel episode! They acknowledged Ben's existence, Max and Alec had a touching moment, connected, and she admitted she was a bitch to him. And she dumped Logan…though I have to admit I kind of like him drunk…I kept rewinding the tap to watch his 'Woo Hoo." Also we got to see Max back up on the space needle, which we haven't seen this entire season, plus Alec was up there with her actually being a nice guy. This episode kind of renewed my faith in the writers, because they finally gave us something that a lot of viewers have wanted to see so badly. More than one dimension of the characters. I don't know if I'm the only one who noticed but Max has been severely lacking in emotions that aren't of the tortured I-don't-get-to-touch-Logan kind and it was touching to see Alec wrap his arm around her and say that he was sorry. It was a dream come true and I kept bouncing around my dorm room going, "oh yeah, finally!" 

Review, it gives me a reason to go on. ::puts a hand to her forehead dramatically::

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 13: You have a what?

Jondy sat staring at the front door for an hour fidgeting with her fingers, chipping off her blue finger nail polish that she had just put on the hour earlier before she had taken up the occupation of staring at the door. Zane had slipped out before she could talk to him in the twenty minutes she had walked away from his closed bedroom door to take a shower. From the supreme lack of talking to her she was starting to think that he was a little mad, possibly at her. 

After Zane had disappeared into his bedroom Alec had turned to her with an open mouth and a hushed apology. She had waved him off and smiled, "It's not your fault, doll. Innocent fun that his over active imagination made into not so innocent fun."

"I just don't have friends that I can have movie nights with," he said lamely shrugging his shoulders.

She smiled and touched his cheek gently, "well, its about time I came along then." She motioned her head for the door. "I'll give you a call later, let me try and straighten this out."

"Good luck." He smirked at her and headed for the door pausing to throw one more look in her direction.

"Bye, babe." He had nodded and closed the door behind him with a soft click and Jondy had turned with a resolute scowl on her face and knocked on Zane's door. "Zane, talk to me."

There was no answer. 

"Zane, come on, stop being jealous guy!"

Jondy started to imagine she was hearing crickets

"Open the door."

The crickets were starting to back talk her.

"I'm not leaving this door till you come out of there! You know how stubborn I am, it's gonna be a really long time in there without any bathroom breaks." 

The crickets were laughing and pointing now.

"I'll sing 'Mmmbop.' I realize you probably have never heard that song so you don't realize the true threat that is the Hanson brothers but I'll do it!" She hit her forehead against the door, "ok, maybe not. They'd crack me if I sang them and let's face it I'm already half-baked…damn crickets. If I go get a drink of water you aren't gonna run are ya?" She stood silent for a moment. "I'll take that as a 'yes.'"

She had retreated silently from his door into the kitchen, once she had her head safely inside the refrigerator she let out a frustrated growl. She closed the door quietly and sat on the floor her rump connecting to the linoleum with a thud that made her wince. 

She drew her knees to her chest with a loud sigh and bit her lip hard enough that she started to taste blood. "We got corn dogs if you want some! Throw something at the door for a yes if you want me to make you some…I'll leave them at the door and back away if it makes you feel better." Jondy waited with closed eyes for any sign of life from Zane's room. Suddenly there was a loud thud that made her jump, followed by two more. "Three corn dogs coming right up." 

Once she had the oven going she couldn't stop looking at her hands. They shook softly against her will as she tried her best to breath past the tightness in her chest that felt like a boa constrictor was slowly choking the life out of her. Her breath was loud in her own ears drowning out the rest of the world as she stared at the fingers with long fingernails despite her line of work. It felt like seconds but the buzzer was going off reminding her that the corn dogs were done. She set a plate down infront of Zane's door softly and retreated sitting with her back to the kitchen cubby's wall so that she could just see the edge of his door. 

He opened it slowly and all she could see was his hand as he dragged the plate complete with three hot dogs into the dark room. Jondy rolled her eyes as she watched the door close back with a click and could hold back the low growl. "Fine, be a three year old," she muttered under her breath.

She painted her nails a bright metallic blue and talked animatedly to the door. Not Zane, but the door, she figured she would get more of a response that way. She got bored with the door after an hour and started to beat a rhythm out on the wooden floor before she broke out into song. "Just look at that girl with the lights coming up in her eyes. She's gotta be somebody's baby. She must be somebody's baby. Cause all the guys on the corner sit back and let her walk on by. She's gotta be somebody's baby. She must be somebody's baby. She's gotta be somebody's baby, cause she's so fine. She's probably somebody's sunlight…"

"Sing something else," came through the door quietly, Zane's voice was like gravel and Jondy winced in sympathy. 

"Mississippi in the middle of a dry spell. Jimmy Rogers on the victrola up high. Mama's dancin' with a baby on her shoulder. The sun is settin' like molasses in the sky. The boy could sing, knew how to move everything. Always wanting more, he'd leave you longing for." She made her voice soft and low, swaying with the guitar music that she could hear so perfectly in her head. "Black velvet and that little boy's smile. Black velvet with that slow southern style, a new religion that'll bring ya to your knees. Black velvet if you please." She leaned her head back against Zane's door and drew her knees up to her chest, slowly drawing in air to let it out in pure notes. "Up in Memphis the music's like a heat wave. White lightning is bound to drive you wild. Mama's baby's in the heart of every schoolgirl. "Love me tender" leaves 'em cryin' in the aisle. The way he moved, it was a sin, so sweet and true. Always wanting more, he'd leave you longing for." She stopped singing abruptly not wanting to go on, so she sighed, lifting her head to let it hit his door. "You gonna talk to me now?" Silence reigned once again, letting the crickets take the floor. "Limiting talk times to song requests?"

She stood slowly and with one long sad glance at Zane's door and imagined him sitting with his back to the door his chin resting on his knees as he listened for her movements. A lock of dark black hair would have fallen into forest green eyes as he stared silently at Sasha who would be watching him just as steadily. With another sigh she made her way into the bathroom for a shower wanting to get rid of the shakes that were starting to overrun her body. Maybe she could drown a couple crickets while she was in there.

When she had come out toweling her hair slowly she found Zane's door open. She smiled happily for a second thinking he had come to his senses when she realized that it was just her and Sasha in the apartment. "Damn cheater," she huffed before she sat down on the couch and started picking at her metallic blue fingernail polish, one eye on the front door.

~*~

A knock rang out in the silence of Max's apartment, as she was taking a towel away from her wet hair, making her to jump. With a raised eyebrow she made her way to the door and opened it slowly to find Alec standing there with his hands in his pockets and an unhappy smile on his face. "What do you want?"

"I don't want to go back to my apartment and I was just wondering if maybe I could hang out here for a while. I know you don't sleep or anything."

"Why do you want to hang out here?" She ran a hand through her wet hair pulling it away from her now damp shirt with a grimace.

"I feel bad."

"About?" She stepped away from the door and let him in.

"I got Jondy in trouble with Zane."

"What did you do?" she bit out rolling her eyes unhappily as he pulled his jacket off and shucked it onto her couch.

"We were hanging out having some fun and Zane walked in and thought it was something that it wasn't." He explained quietly looking down at his hands.

"Right, he misinterpreted your type of 'fun.'" Max let out a loud sigh and made her way into the kitchen

"It wasn't even like that, Max. We watched a movie, had some raspberries, and we play fought over a coke, nothing more." He threw his hands up in the air and gave an exasperated growl, "I realize I'm supposed to be the scum of the earth but she's my friend."

Max opened her mouth to say something but closed it, looking guiltily at her hands. "Sorry, you just don't have a good track record."

"I'm aware of that," he sighed loudly before letting his lean frame drop onto her couch beside his jacket. "So you don't mind if I hang out, right?"

"Whatever." Walking quietly to a cabinet she pulled down two glasses and nodded to one of them in his direction. He nodded and watched her as she made her way to the refrigerator. She moved slowly, languidly, her hips swaying back and forth in a rhythm that he couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from. He caught the smile she threw over her shoulder at him and couldn't stop his own answering smile. 

"You seem worried that I'm going to try something with Jondy…" Alec started softly before pushing himself back onto his feet. 

"Of course." With narrowed eyes she glanced over at him, her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. 

He was standing behind her now out of arms reach but close enough that he could smell her damp hair. It was strange to smell her without the trace of leather and motor oil that had ingrained itself into her scent. "Why?" he asked in a low voice letting his lips caress the word as he watched her turn around to face him.

"Because, for one, Zane is completely in love with her and if you try anything it'll break his heart, which you probably already did tonight anyway. And second because I know you have a tendency to use a girl and then cheat on her, I don't want to see my sister as one of your castoffs." She clicked her tongue quietly as though to assure herself that her reasoning was sound.

Alec smiled as he took a slow step towards her, a smile playing on his lips. "I don't think that's what you're worried about."

"And what do you think I'm worried about?" she lifted an eyebrow and put a hand on her hip as she looked him over with pursed lips.

He took another step towards her, letting the unconscious grace of his body lull her the same way hers had done earlier. She didn't realize what was happening until he was right in front of her his face so close to hers that she could feel his warm breath against her cheek as he leaned in to whisper in her hair. "You don't want me with Jondy because you want me…to be with you." 

Max opened and closed her mouth several times unsuccessfully getting words passed the lips that had suddenly gone bloodless. She blinked several times before she could muster enough thought to push him away with a laugh. "The ego has landed."

He threw her one of his best smirks and shrugged, "I know my own worth. At least the ego is justified."

"You think."

"I know." She just shook her head at him and poured two drinks out for them. "Admit it, Max, you think I'm a fine specimen of man." He laughed at her sudden expression of fear before she shook her head and plastered the usual mask of tough girl on her face. 

"Alec, get over yourself before I'm forced to beat you down."

"I'm being completely honest here," he smirked again and walked up to her taking both glasses out of her hands, ignoring her protests. "I want to see something," he explained softly, the look in his blue eyes stopping her from saying anything.

He was standing close to her again; she could smell the clean scent of his skin, untainted by some cologne because his nose would be too sensitive to stand the constant irritation. If forced to put a name to his smell it would be something like man and cat, musty and feral, and sex strong and potent in the suddenly small apartment. He lifted one hand slowly, so slowly she thought she would forget to breathe as she watched it. He touched her cheek gently with the tips of his fingers and she jumped despite herself, unable to ignore the blot of electricity that shot through her. 

Her eyes jumped to his full pink lips as his tongue darted out to wet them. The parted slightly as he took in shallow breaths, tasting her without ever actually having that tongue trace the contours of her skin. He leaned in his blue eyes latching onto her wide brown ones and she jumped back before he could connect.

"What exactly do you want to see?" she asked in a strangled voice.

"I want to see if you taste like I think you will."

"How do you think…"

"Like raspberries," he whispered before he moved in to capture her lips, this time not leaving her room to pull back. One hand moved to tangle into her hair keeping her pressed against him. His tongue traced her lips and he couldn't stop the sudden feeling of overwhelming relief when she opened her mouth to let him in, to let him explore her.

His other hand snaked its way around her waist, pulling her even tighter against him until nothing but clothes separated them and she had to fight off waves of dizziness as her knees gave out. He strong arms supported her but they were fighting a loosing battle as his own legs turned to mush and they sank down to the ground. The kiss went on drowning out the rest of the world before he pulled away breathing heavily and his eyes glazed over with pleasure.

Max faired no better as she looked at him, reaching again for his lips. He drew back once again licking his lips taking in the remnants of her taste as he cupped her face in his hands. "Like raspberries," he whispered, and suddenly grabbed his jacket and left. All Max could do was sit, on the floor of her apartment, with her mouth open and watch as the door closed behind him. 

~*~

It was six the next evening before Zane came home; Jondy lay on the couch with one leg draped over the armrest and the other over the back and her head hanging off the edge. Zane came into view upside down, looking at her with empty green eyes and a raised eyebrow. "Have you been sitting there all day?"

"Course not. I took a couple bathroom breaks and of course I made some food." She gave him a wane smile and sat up grimacing as she contemplated the world from this position. "Where have you been?"

"Out."

"Captain obvious is a friend of yours I see…care to be more specific?"

"Not really," he walked into his room and she could hear as he shuffled around, throwing clothes onto the bed absently. 

"Whatcha doin'?" Jondy asked innocently from his doorway.

"Getting ready to go out," he answered in a clipped tone that made her wince.

"Care for some company? We haven't really had any fun together since we came on this mad goose hunt for Zack…who I hope you haven't forgotten about in all the hub bub with Max. I mean I'm happy to see her and that's why we're staying as long as we have, but we still need to get Zack back into the land of, well, Zackness." She was going on faster as she watched his face get more and more closed off. She tried desperately to find a way for him open up but she had never been very good at getting out of holes. She did, however, excel at digging them.

"Actually," he started slowly, "I already have company."

"Company? What kind of company?"

"I have a date," he pulled his shirt off slowly, revealing hard muscles that moved under smooth skin.

"You have a what?" She couldn't even focus on her body the words hit her so hard.

"A date, you know, those things that guys go out on with girls…or girls go out on with girls or boys with boys depending on sexual preference."

"I vaguely remember dates; money gets spent occasional groping…"

"If one is lucky." Zane said coldly pulling on another shirt, blocking out her view of his lean frame.

Jondy blinked a couple of times before a smile spread across her face and she batted eyes, that had always sparkled with something less than sanity. "Well, I hope for the chance that you'll stop acting like a three year old, that you do get lucky." She simpered, showing off dimples, as he gaped at her and turned on her heel and left him to get ready. 


	14. Intuitively obvious...

Author's Note: Ha Ha I didn't do a disclaimer. Ha ha ha ha ::maniacal laughter:: Sorry, it's the little things. Well, I gotta say I've started on the next chapter and it's kind of therapeutic 'cause I was acting out the fight scenes. Just so that I can think of how to describe all the things that go into a fight scene and it's nice to do something so physical especially when I got the punching bag out. And now all of you are looking at me funny…or you would be if you could look at me. I wasn't too very happy with this chapter for some reason it didn't flow like I wanted it to but bear with me and the next chapter promises to behave better, and so far it has. Woohoo. I'm still playing the Alec and Max scenes from Friday and Logan's "woo hoo." They make me happy. As I said earlier it's the little things. And I never really realized how much a typo can screw things up as when I was reading my last chapter and it said blot of electricity rather than bolt…whole new meaning there.

Review because otherwise I might feel unloved and you wouldn't wanna see what happens when I feel unloved.

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 14: Intuitively obvious to the simplest of minds

"So he has a date?" Alec asked blinking his eyes slowly.

"Uh huh."

"Didn't you try to explain it to him?" Original Cindy asked from her seat next to Alec. 

"Well, I tried but he wasn't exactly up for that whole communication thing." She rolled her eyes and threw back a glass of amber colored liquid. 

"So he went out and got a date because he's being jealous?"

"Apparently that's the way his mind works."

"What you planin' on doin' about it?"

"I'm thinking drinks, dancing, hot boy…in that order," Jondy said with a laugh and grinned at Original Cindy happily. "I think I got a good plan goin.'"

"Oh yeah, you'll be really happy when you wake up tomorrow," Alec said under his breath taking a drink from his own glass of beer.

They were waiting to meet up with Max. Jondy didn't miss the way his eyes shifted every few seconds to see if she had yet to arrive. She threw him a smirk, "there's something you aren't telling us," she said simply.

"What are you talking about?" Alec asked quickly putting on his best impression of an innocent bystander.

"I'll get it out of Max if you don't tell me…hurry up and make it so that the lights in your favor while you still can."

"I…might have done something to make her mad at me."

"Original Cindy is trying to see where this is a new thing."

"I might have kissed her…and then left."

Original Cindy smacked his arm gently, "you didn't."

Jondy blinked at him before she sighed loudly and indicated to the bar tender that she wanted another drink. She waited for her glass to be full again before she turned to him and smirked. "We are some very sad transgenics…we can't just say we like someone we have to go and make it complicated. I get laughed at by crickets and you're…well, you're stupid."

"I'm stupid? If I remember correctly you did the same thing."

"No, no, no, ya see, I didn't kiss him first. He kissed me and I walked away. I wasn't ready for kissing action! If I had been I would have been all over that."

"All over what?" came a soft velvety voice from behind them. They turned to see a smiling Max whose eyes remained firmly on anything that wasn't Alec. "Hmm?"

"Zane, of course," Cindy answered rolling her eyes.

"Max!" Jondy grinned and threw an arm around her sister and hugged her tightly before letting her go and sitting back down on her stool. 

Max's nose wrinkled slowly, "you smell like alcohol."

Jondy just rolled her eyes before glancing at the bottles that the bartender had left infront of her. One of two was empty. "Gee, I can't imagine how that happened. Me sitting here infront of a bar with the company of two drinking buddies and I smell like alcohol. The reason escapes me why," she laughed before letting her head drop to the counter.

"She's not a happy Jondy at the moment," Alec supplied with a smile putting a comforting hand on her head for a long moment.

"I can see that," Max said slowly.

Jondy lifted her head up and blinked several times, "I'm not much of a drinker. Maybe you haven't noticed but anytime I'm given alcohol I never drink it, but I figure this is one of those occasions where I'll make an exception." 

At Max's raised eyebrow Cindy pursed her lips and took a drink from her beer before answering, "Zane has a date tonight that is not this fine sister sitting here now."

"What? Why?" Max asked her mouth hanging open slightly.

Alec raised his hand slowly as though he was looking for permission to talk, "that's sort of my fault."

"No, it's not your fault." Jondy said adamantly bringing her drink down with a bang. "It's not your fault he's jealous and paranoid and doesn't know me well enough to realize that I wouldn't do something like that…it's in no way your fault." She gave him a grin before turning to Max. "Now, you, my beautiful sister, have to go off somewhere with this stupid, though well intentioned, man and talk." She made shooing motions with her hands before she turned to Cindy with a smile. "Wanna dance?"

Cindy lifted one eyebrow, "I thought you didn't play that way."

"No, but that doesn't mean that I don't wanna dance. Plus think about the benefits…I grab the attention of almost every guy in the bar and you grab the attention of the women." She grinned mischievously, "who could resist?"

Cindy's answering grin was no better, "Original Cindy can't argue with that logic." She looked at Max and Alec pointedly, "you two work it out already, will ya? The sexual tension between you is starting to get annoyin.'" With that she turned to follow Jondy out onto the dance floor. 

Max and Alec looked at each other quietly for a couple minutes not knowing exactly what to say. "Look…" they both started

"You go first," Alec said with a smile.

"No, you."

"I think…"

"You go first," Max said her face getting hard as she lifted her chin 

"Ok, I go first." He took a deep breath and looked down at his hands biting his lip. After a minute he lifted his head to look at her. "I'm sorry."

"For kissing me?" she asked drawing back without even realizing it.

Alec saw and rushed forward, "no, for leaving afterward." He relaxed as he saw her body move closer. "I just didn't think you were going to want me around after that."

"Oh…" she said simply and captured her full bottom lip between her teeth. "I wouldn't have _minded_ if you had wanted to stay," she couldn't look at him just then. A hand came into her view, big and strong, and cupped her chin forcing her to look up. 

"If I had known I would have stayed." He smiled at her then, a smile that wasn't a smirk or a grin but a simple smile and Max wondered if she had actually ever seen anything like it before in her life.

"Well," she shrugged indifferently; "if you ever wanna try it again I don't see why we couldn't."

"Well, I wouldn't be against the suggestion, by any means," he pursed his lips and smirked at her. "If you wanted to do that tonight I would be all for it." 

She smiled at him and slowly sipped from his glass, "not tonight."

He raised an eyebrow, blue eyes sparkling with amusement, "not tonight?"

"I want you to take me out on a date first."

He laughed under his breath and shook his head, "two bowls of pasta coming right up." 

"With wine and candles," full lips bent in a smile as she watched him.

"Of course," he smirked at her, slapping her shoulder playfully. He watched as her eyes shifted to stare across the room her smile dropping slowly. "What's wrong?"

"I don't understand…how she can look so happy right now?"

Alec's eyebrows drew together in a second of confusion before he followed her eyes to where Jondy was dancing. Original Cindy had found another woman to dance with as Jondy was surrounded by men who would love nothing more than to have her open her eyes and see them. 

She seemed to loose herself in the rhythm of her own body that undulated in time with the beat. Jondy became, in one long breath, a part of the music that throbbed through the club, her heavy lids dropped to cover eyes as blue as lightening, her hands fisted in her hair keeping it off her face while a smile played on full red lips. "She doesn't," he answered softly, ignoring the look of confusion on Max's face. It occurred to him that maybe he was really the only one who could see exactly what was going through Jondy's head. Maybe Zack could have once but not now, not today. 

"She looks perfectly happy with the following she's managed to gather."

"She looks miserable from where I'm sitting."

Max rolled her eyes at him before grabbing his hand and leading him out onto the dance floor. "It's been a while since I've had fun…" she smiled at him as he followed her one hand resting possessively on her hip. "I figure it's 'bout time to start."

"Finally," he breathed and narrowly missed the playful punch directed at his stomach. With one last worried glance directed in Jondy's direction he turned to Max and let her take every last bit of his attention. A smile curved the corners of his mouth as he snaked a hand around her waist and pulled her in tightly against his body. "If it's fun you want, I'm your man."

"I knew I could count on you," she said in breathy whisper into his ear as her hands slid up to wrap around his neck. 

He brought his mouth down until it was resting against her ear, "you sure you don't want to try again tonight?"

She bit her lip as she looked up at him, tempted to take him up on the offer before shaking her head with a grin. After a few minutes of letting their bodies move together with the music she spoke up. "I've been wondering…" His blue eyes connected solidly to her brown ones. "Why you kissed me."

He grinned, "I've been wondering why you let me." She slapped his arm gently before fixing him with a resolute stare. "I've wanted to kiss you since I watched you sleep…" he smiled down at her confused expression. "I went over to see Joshua once and you were there curled up on his couch asleep and he was painting you. I must have been standing there for two hours, just watching you." He wiggled his eyebrows at her, "so why'd you let me?"

"I don't know," she shook her head and stared over his shoulder.

"Oh come on, I gave you this great answer and you just give me an 'I don't know?' That isn't fair, I call a do-over." 

She grinned, "you just have these really nice lips and you leaned in and I just couldn't think past kissing them." She covered her face as he smirked at her.

"I knew it, I'm irresistible."

"Be quiet, before I go find someone else to dance with!"

His arms tightened around her waist when she made to push him away playfully. "Oh no. No way are you dancing with anyone else." He looked past her for a second and his eyes narrowed as he watched a man grab for Jondy's hair and push it away from her neck. Baring to the world for a split second her barcode before she whipped around growling at him.

"Hey, no touchie!" Max turned when she heard her sisters out cry her own eyes narrowing at the man who was now backing away. Jondy snarled, her lips pulling back from her teeth as she watched him, there was a playful smile on his lips as he held hands up in mock surrender.

Her eyes followed him before they saw something off in the distance that made her suddenly forget all about him. Her body froze and her mouth hung open for a moment before she cracked her neck and made her way over to Max and Alec. Alec turned slowly to look over his shoulder and saw Zane talking to a red head sitting across from him. She threw her head back in a laugh as his fingers traced circles over her hand. Jondy tapped Alec on the shoulder lightly. "Some guy keeps trying to grope me, I'm suddenly not in the mood to deal with it. I'm goin' home, I'll catch ya later."

"All right," Max said with an understanding smile.

"Find a punching bag somewhere," Alec added with a smirk.

"I think I might do that," she answered, grinning at him before turning to leave. Five men turned to watch her leave as she grabbed her coat from her barstool and took off.

"Am I the only one who has the sudden overwhelming urge to punch Zane?" Alec asked, raising an eyebrow at Max who just shook her head unhappily.

The walk back to her apartment was long, which Jondy was thankful for. She needed sometime in the cool night air with the sound of traffic buzzing in her ears. She sighed running a hand through her long hair and flipped it over her shoulder to braid it slowly. She needed something to do with her hands and that seemed as good as anything else she could do. 

She hummed softly as she moved her head in rhythm to the song. Her footsteps became hollow battle drums on the pavement the clicking of her work boots loud in her own ears. The traffic was dying down so couldn't drown it out. She wondered sometimes if she felt too much, or heard too much for one person to handle without going insane. 

The very thought produced a snort that she couldn't stop. She was the last person to worry about going insane. She wondered though how far she could be pushed until she decided to take the final plunge. Something that she did know without a doubt was that when she did take that jump, and she would eventually, that it would be her own choice. It would be a conscious decision to look down into the abyss and fly. 

She was too lost in her own thoughts to hear the footsteps that echoed her own, that stopped when she stopped, that followed her when she turned into the abandoned building where she lived. She looked behind her twice when she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, but each time she didn't see anything. So shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head at her own paranoia she unlocked her door and went inside, careful to lock it behind her.

Sasha was standing there waiting for her with her tail waging happily. Jondy scratched her behind her ears and started for the kitchen, rubbing a crick in her neck that had been bothering her for most of the night. She stretched and just as she made to walk around the couch Sasha caught her attention once again. 

She stood with her haunches up, her ears flat to her head, and her lips pulled back in a snarl as she growled at the door. Jondy froze hands still in the air as she watched the dog with wide eyes; she lowered her arms slowly as her eyes shifted to the door. Sasha's growl got louder and Jondy was running just as the door was kicked open.


	15. At all costs

Author's Note: Howdy! How y'all doin'? Well, this chapter was kind of disturbing to write but I liked it anyway…I am in delicate health. ::wide grin:: I should probably warn you, I have no problem with letting really bad things happen to my characters…I'm not too sure if this will be one of those times, probably not, but just so you are prepared. Or maybe just so you will find the next two chapters more suspenseful. I play some dirty pool, babes. Anyways, enough about me…on with the story.

Review, it might help keep Jondy alive.

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 15: At all costs

Sasha was barking, her voice filling the apartment in a way that Jondy's breathing, loud and booming in her own ears, could not. She didn't look behind her to see who had kicked down the door she just knew that she had to get away. She had to save herself. Her hair was flying out behind her like a battle flag snapping in the wind, blue and gold wrapping around itself in a declaration of war. Her arms pumped at her sides as leapt out of the way of a bullet that grazed her arm, the scent of her own blood stung her nose but she didn't pause in her flight. There was a sickening whimper behind her and the barking stopped that's when the pounding of feet started. Jondy winced not wanting to know how they had managed to silence Sasha, knowing that if she knew she would start screaming and wouldn't be able to stop. All she could think was she needed to get to her room, lock the door, and make a mad dash for the Browning 9mm that she knew she had stashed under a pillow. "What I wouldn't give for heavy explosives," she cursed under breath as she heard the banging start on her bed room door.

"Ha! Gun," she grabbed it up just as her door gave way under incessant feet she turned and without aiming took out one of the men that poured into the room. The tails of his coat billowed out around him as he flew back into the wall, catching another man with the dead weight of his body. The gun was a solid weight in her in the palm of her hand, reassuring in its cold practicality. She didn't have enough time to aim, too many men swarmed around her at once. She shot one man in the leg and wasted precious seconds gaping at him as he stood right back up. Two men lie on the floor and didn't get back up but five more were standing and they didn't look like they were stopping. A man with brown hair took advantage of her distraction to aim her gun up, it went off and tore a hole in the ceiling and before she knew what happened she had lost the gun.

Her boot connected with one man's chin, snapping his head back and sent him flying through the air his arms windmill-ing before he crashed into the wall with a loud **thud**. Her right fist connected with one man's nose while her left elbow did the same to another man. She caught a fist to the stomach and doubled over and used her momentum in standing straight to upper cut the one who had landed the blow. She wasn't thinking the fight through anymore, her body was reacting as they backed her into a corner. She head-butted a man with dark drown hair and felt only animalistic pleasure at the dark blood that pooled underneath his nose. She knew she was going to lose by the feeling of hands clawing at her throat, the fists on her body, the sharp metallic scent that filled her nose and covered the back of her throat. She could smell the distinct mix of animal and human that told her it was her own blood that drowned her senses.

She threw herself onto her bed and let two feet hit one man solidly in the chest; his body went concave as he went crashing back into another man. It was a good move but it wasn't practical, she had to scramble off the bed hands clawing at the covers for enough purchase to move faster. Someone had a knife, she could feel the warm trail of blood that made it's way down her back as she was once again on her feet, at least she was out of the corner now. 

She stood at the door her body frozen screaming for fight or flight. Instincts clamored against one another, and suddenly she was a snarling animal trapped and wounded. The knife cut on her back burned. She lashed out, grabbed a man by his arm her nail leaving long red welts on his skin as she threw him through the door, his body falling in a heap at the feet of more men. Catching a man with blond hair she hugged him close to her body her arms wrapping around his thick neck and twisted, her leverage was off so all she managed to do was cut off his air. She looked over to see a gun pointed at her, with her elbow she knocked the gun from his hands, wrapped her arm around his, broke it, and then brought him closer to her. She had no more hands left so she bit him. Her teeth ripped through the soft flesh just below his chin and the taste of copper blossomed on her tongue as she listened to the soft gurgling noises of a man who could not scream. She let him drop to the floor, clutching at the bloody mass of his throat, and backed away. She snapped the blond man's neck in one last desperate wrench as she delivered a back kick into another's groin. 

She leapt through the air, covering the distance of the living room. She heard gun shots but didn't feel anything as she hurled her body at the man that, something inside her whispered, was the leader. Her hands closed around his neck, her nails digging into tender flesh, as they both toppled over onto the floor, blood dripped onto his face from her cheek and chin her own mixed with a dead man's. A dark side of her brain laughed, roared, with the poetry of it. 

The leader's eyes bulged in surprise when he couldn't throw her off, and when they met with her own and saw nothing human in the electric blue depths. His mouth opened but no sound could come out as hands gripped at her, taking flesh but not the power in her lean frame. Then her back arched her fingers loosening but not letting go. She snarled down at the dark man beneath her, lips peeling back from perfect white teeth to reveal fangs just that much sharper than a normal human's. An animal had taken over and it wasn't giving up, not yet, not even as the man behind her pulled the syringe from her back. 

The leader watched as her eyes lost some of their focus, the gleam died slowly, and suddenly he could breath again as she was dragged off of him, her body giving it's last struggle. 

Jondy lay on her back; her mouth hung open as she tried to drag in air. Her eyelids fluttered and the room got brighter and brighter around her. The men almost disappeared in the glare. Her heartbeat was booming in her ears, so loud she couldn't hear the shouts of the men around her. Faces leaned over her; the dark man that was the leader looked down at her a hand clutching at his throat. She saw the fear sparkling in his eyes and smiled. She wanted to laugh, to throw her head back with the force of it but she couldn't seem to take control of her own body. All she could manage was a soft wheezing through her smile.

Something soft and furry touched her hand before she lost the feeling in her fingers. Above her heartbeat she heard a soft whimper and couldn't tell if it was her own or Sasha's. And as the light got brighter all she could think was she hoped it was Sasha's, because that would mean she was alive. Light filled the room until she couldn't see anything but white, no men and no walls, and then everything went black.

~*~

Zane walked slowly up the stairs of the abandoned building that would lead to his and Jondy's apartment, alone. The red head had been dropped off at her place with a handshake and no promise that she would ever see him again, though she had made it perfectly clear that she wanted to. He rubbed at his face, sighing softly into his hand, knowing that trying to go out on a date would be useless. For one it hadn't seemed to effect Jondy very much as she had danced with several men, and for another thing it made him miserable. He looked at the women, no matter how different they looked or acted from Jondy, and compared them. He had yet to meet a woman that could stand up against such a comparison, as far as he was concerned it was a hopeless battle. 

He rounded the corner of the hallway and froze, his door was open and from where he stood he could see the frame cracked and torn. He walked in a half crouch, reaching for the gun strapped to his back underneath his leather jacket. He peeked around the doorframe into the apartment gun first and his breath caught as he saw the living room destroyed.

The scent of blood hung heavy in the air coating everything; blood and fear. He walked gun still in hand and stopped just short of a smear of red. Someone had been dragged away. His nostrils flared as he bent down next to it, with a shaking hand he touched the blood and found it cold, over an hour had past since the body had been removed…or the unconscious person.

The couch had been overturned and he righted it absently as he toured the devastation. His heart speeding up with every step he started for Jondy's room. The bed covers had been ripped from the bed and lay in heaps on the floor, a lamp had been smashed, and her books were scattered everywhere. His foot hit something small and solid, sending it skidding across the floor. Zane swallowed as he watched Jondy's Browning 9mm come to a stop against her closet. Next to another smear of blood. Zane turned his head slowly, his breath coming in ragged gasps; another smear went down the wall and across the floor. This trail of blood was darker then the rest, so dark that it was almost black, seeing it made him shudder, wondering if it was Jondy's.

He picked up her gun and emptied the clip. She had gotten off three rounds. Three smears of blood and a hole in the ceiling. She hadn't been the only one with a gun. Zane closed his eyes, letting heavy lids block out the wreckage around him, and hoped that it had been the other gun that had made the hole in the ceiling. A low whimper caught his attention and he was running into his room.

Sasha stood, favoring one leg, with her head down and her tail tucked between her legs. "Oh, girl, did they hurt you?"

He leaned down slowly and with gentle hands he felt her leg and breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't broken. "What happened?" he asked putting his forehead against Sasha's to comfort her. "This isn't good," he told her softly. He picked her up and laid her on his bed, careful of her foot, before he got out his cell phone. He paged Max and sat down next to his dog to wait. 

His cell rang in his hand, making him jump when it disturbed the silence of the apartment. "Thank God," he said as a hello and was surprised when Max snapped at him.

"This better be important."

"Jondy's missing," he said simply, not wanting to deal with finding out what her problem was.

She was quiet for a moment, he heard her take a slow breath, "maybe she just went out, she wasn't in a very good mood when she left Crash."

"Right, she decided to trash the apartment, smear blood all over the place, shoot off a couple of rounds from her gun, and kick my dog…cause she wasn't in a good mood. I'm telling you, Max, she's missing…someone _took_ Jondy."

There was a longer silence this time, "What do you know about it?"

"Three bodies got dragged out of here. At least one of the bodies was a corpse."

"How do you know?"

"The blood was almost black," he took a breath and supplied, "life blood."

"What do you mean?" he could hear the confusion in her voice.

"Come on, Max, think about it…Head, stomach, heart anytime you're hit in those areas the blood is darker, closer to a major artery or something. It means you're going to die. I'm guessing the corpse was shot in the head, but I'm not sure. If they weren't dead when they were dragged out they are by now." He let that sink in for a moment before going on. "It happened at least an hour ago. I don't know who did it and I don't even know if Jondy survived," his voice broke on the last word but he went on. "Get over here."

"I'll be there in five minutes…and I'm bringing Alec." 

Zane's jaw clenched, "fine, just hurry." He hung up without a good-bye and looked over at Sasha who was staring at him sadly. "It'll be fine," he told her. "Jondy'll be fine. Nothing to worry about cause she'll be fine." He let his head sink into his hands as he whispered, "she has to be fine." 


	16. For the Mad

Author's Note: Hi! I think I really really like writing Jondy. She's so liberating…I still might have to kill her but I like her anyway. Now I think it's time that put your Zack questions to rest. Zack is one of those really important characters that you hear about a lot but will only be shown in the story for a short time. It's mean of me but it's how I need to do this, for now. It might or might not change but how things are looking now it's not going to. Sorry. I wrote this whole story because of one scene that I had in my head before I started this. (Strangely enough that's how a lot of my stories are started, I write a whole world around one scene.) The scene I wrote this around is the Zack one…for those who are wondering about "Has Anyone ever?" that was written around the "Want" "Need" scene that so many drooled over…me included. Anyways…one with the story.

Review, we're all counting on you

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 16: For the Mad

"Ain't nothing working, ain't nothing right. There's a hole in me that I can't fill, no matter how hard I try " someone was singing. Off in the distance, far, far away. "Hey, bartender, hit me with a double, and introduce me to that girl with the bubble. I'm looking for trouble tonight. No momma don't trust me tonight. You be the center, baby; I'll be the quarterback. Hike hit the tailback, watch it on playback. Jaw smash that hitting that redbone, up in the end zone biting on the collarbone." Far away, as in on another planet or a parallel universe where she was some chick in a dorm room typing at her computer.

"I just want your company I want you to comfort me just come with me," at least whoever they were, they were singing a good song. "Hey, bartender, hit me with another. I just about had to kill this brother. Shit, I'm looking for trouble tonight. No momma don't trust me tonight." A bit offensive, but a nice song anyway. Nice voice too. "You be the beauty – baby, I'll be the beast. Don't give a fuck take it to the bedroom. Take it the streets. Take it like a man, muthafucker. Yo bitch chose me, muthafucker."

Wa-ait a second. That was her voice. Someone had stolen her voice. '_Give it back, you rat bastard! I need that voice. Voicenappers!'_ She tried to yell it but it didn't really work since someone had stolen her voice. The singing went on, "I just want your company. I want you to comfort me, just come with me. Take me there. Take me with you, I can't be alone tonight. I can't trust myself tonight. I can't trust myself tonight. Baby, please don't trust me tonight. No you can't trust me tonight." That couldn't be her voice, could it? If that was her voice it would mean she had a mouth, which would mean she had a face. Now if she had a face it would only be logical to assume she had a head, and a head meant that she had a body complete with fingers and toes. Maybe she even had a name to go with it all.

She didn't feel any fingers or toes. She was just a nameless consciousness that floated in space, a mind without a body. That was possible right? Time to test the theory. '_Toes…move!'_ She waited, patiently for anything. Nothing happened so she tried again. _'Fingers…wiggle!'_ Nothing happened again. '_Humph…wait a cotton pickin' minute!'_ Something happened, a toe moved, and with the movement came the sudden overwhelming sense of being solid. She wasn't just a mind she was a pretty face too. With a name, she was a Jondy with the simple movement of her big toe. '_Woohoo!_' Now it was time for the big stuff. '_Open on up eyes_.' 

It seemed to take forever for her to open her eyes; every fiber of her being was focused on that one task. She could see again, it was a miracle. _ 'The Lord said "Let there be light", and it was go-ood.'_ She was still singing, mumbling the words to the song that she absently identified as "Bartender." Good song, fun song, though the lyrics seemed to be clearer from far away. "Ain't nothing working. Ain't nothing right. There's a hole in me that I can't fill no matter how hard I try. Ain't nothing sweeter, there ain't nothing wrong. All the pain that I receive keeps me strong. It keeps me moving on."

She heard voices now, outside. Through a door she thought closing her eyes, a small sense of triumph filling her when they obeyed readily. "How is she doing?" someone snapped. 

__

'I don't think he really cares. I think I'm gonna cry.' Her lip jutted out without her having to tell it to.

"Other than scrapes and bruises she's in perfect health."

__

'I can't move, you baffon, you call that perfect health?'

"You're telling me, this girl killed that many of my men without even a broken bone?"

__

'You want me to have broken bones? That's it, you're not my friend, I'd say anymore but I don't think I've actually met you before.' Jondy managed to twitch a shoulder as the door to the room she had apparently been stashed in came open with a metallic crash.

There were soft footsteps and then, "X5-210, can you hear me?" The words were spoken from above her, in a harsh deep voice.

Blue eyes snapped open at meet with brown, she looked up at him with a smile, "I just realized," she managed to get out in a voice that sounded like gravel. "Give me a nine and an 'o' and I'm a really bad teenage version of a soap opera." 

She watched smiling as he leaned over her, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion. "There's less animal in your eyes today," he commented absently.

She laughed, "but not mu-uch." 

"Do you know how many of my men you killed yesterday?'

"Yesterday? Really? Wow, I've been out for a really long time. I've never been asleep that long in my life…let's see. I shot one in the head, I snapped someone's neck, I bit someone's throat out," she smacked her lips and looked at him with a small frown. "By the way, do you think I could have some water to get his taste out of my mouth?" She smiled and closed her eyes, "that's three. Too bad I couldn't make it four. That would have been fun." She lifted her head off the ground slowly and looked up at the long red welts on his neck outlined in dark purple and blue bruises. "I almost got you, bi-atch." She let her head fall back as he started talking.

"We were just going to kill you when we saw you at the club, we still might, but you managed to do something that so far only one other transgenic has come close to doing. So we did some research…look at me."

"Nu-uh."

"And why not."

"Bored now. Bored. Bored. Bo-ored." She lifted her arm off the floor and inch and dropped it back down for emphasis. When she realized what she did she grinned. "Ooh. Squeak!"

The dark man just blinked down at her, "Squeak?"

"I moved my arm…it was an uplifting moment…that's over now." She sighed and pouted down at her arm, "bored again."

"You are this close," he held his thumb and finger half an inch apart, "to dying. This close," he shoved his fingers in her face, making sure that she could see them. "And you're bored?"

"Uh huh," she smirked up at him.

He leaned down next to her and she squinted up at him, not sure why he was so angry about her unconcern. "Is there something we could talk about that wouldn't leave you bored?"

"Hmm…let's talk about the-o-lo-gy," She said slowly, trying to gain the rest of her motor functions.

"You want to talk about God?" He looked like he had eaten something disgusting. "You, transgenic _freak_ that you are, want to talk about God?"

"Why not?"

"What would you know about God?" He sneered down at her and she grinned up at him, showing fang.

"Man is God."

"Excuse me?" She caught him off guard, how cool is that?

"God is the creator, and in many cases also the destroyer, is he not?" She didn't wait for him to reply. "Man created us and he certainly was, and is, good at hurting and killing us. So man is God…but unlike man and _his_ God we were created as a more perfect image…well, most of us were." He lifted an eyebrow as he looked down at her smile. "Its all one really big joke."

"A joke?" he spit out.

Blue eyes were lucid for one second, the gleam in them dying before burning brighter again. "In the beginning there was neither the Word, nor Love, but laughter, the roaring eternal laughter whose echoes are more deceitful than the mirages of the desert."

"And did you come up with that all on your own?"

"_The Accident_, by Elie Weisel. From _The Night Trilogy_, you illiterate fuck." As he looked down at those eyes he had the feeling she was angry more because he didn't know the book she was talking about then the fact that he had kidnapped her. 

"Now you're quoting things at me?" 

"I could quote other things." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, stopping her eyes went wide, "You will be alone at last/ in the sanity of your friends. / Brilliance will fade away from you/ and you will settle in dimmed light. / You will not remember how to mourn/ your dying difference. / You will not be better but/ they will say you are well."

"And what was that?"

"Lucille Clifton's 'For the mad.'"

"How appropriate," he said dryly.

"I thought so," she looked down at her left arm and frowned. Looking at her he could tell that she was no longer paying any attention to him. 

He narrowed his eyes and grabbed her chin, forcing her eyes on him. "We might let you live, you just have to help us."

She sighed and rolled her eyes, "and how should I do that?"

"As I told you, we decided to do some research…our information tells us that you were one of the twelve that escaped in '09. The transgenic X5-452 thinks of you as her sister, we could use you."

She blinked up at him; "You want me to be afraid of you, don't you?"

He smiled down at her, eyes that weren't lucid but something more, something dangerous, looked back up at him unflinching, "yes."

"It must kill you inside to see how very much I don't care. By the by, my name is Jondy, not 210, and it's Max, not 452. What's your name?"

His eyes narrowed, "Ames White."

"Sucks to be you."

"You're going to die," he sneered as he brought his face closer to hers.

"One can hope." She smiled, laughed, and before he knew what was happening her right hand was on his throat. Her nails bit into flesh and she pulled him down until her lips almost brushed his. "One can only hope. I just might take you with me, too," she snarled. The first sign of the animal that she had been the night before.

White laughed, "you're too weak to choke me to death this time, 210."

Her smile was back in place; he liked the snarl better. "Who said anything about choking you? I can still bite your face off." She clicked her teeth together so close to his nose that he could feel the air that she disturbed with them. She dropped her hand and let her head fall back to the floor.

He pulled away with a hand on his throat, and glared down at her. "Give her more sedative. I'll ask her again tomorrow."

"Sir, it hasn't been long enough since the last dose…"

"Do it!"

"Yes, sir."

Jondy's eyes met with White's as she flashed fang and started to sing. "Can't keep me down. Can't keep me down, no. Hey, hey, man, what's your problem? I see you tryin' to hurt me bad, don't know what you're up against. Maybe you should reconsider, come up with another plan, cause you know I'm not that kind of girl that'll lay there, let you come first." She didn't stop singing when the needle slipped into her side or when the door closed behind the two men. 

"You can push me out the window I'll just get back up. You can run me over with your 18-wheeler truck and I won't give a fuck. You can hang me like a slave I'll go underground. You can run me over with your 18-wheeler but you can't keep me down." They could still hear her and she knew it. She kept singing until the world went bright and then black once again. "Everywhere that I go there's someone waiting to chain me. Everything that I say, there's someone trying to shortchange me. I am only this way cause of what you have made me, and I'm not gonna break. You can push me out the window I'll just get back up. You can run me over with your 18-wheeler truck and I won't give a fuck."

~*~

Alec looked down at the broken lamp that Zane had yet to clean up, and sighed. Max and Zane were talking about their options and he could only manage to listen with half an ear. The entire apartment was a mess; the only thing that Zane had cleaned up was the blood. As though seeing it suggested that it was Jondy's. He wasn't complaining, he didn't much want to see the blood that may or may not have been his friend's. 

He wished though that he had cleaned some of it up. The wreckage around him suggested things about the fight that he didn't want to think about. Like with how so many things were smashed, at least five against one, and in most circumstances he would lay his money down on Jondy but this didn't look like most circumstances. Some of the damage looked more like it was an animal attack than human, which led him to wonder what Jondy's state of mind had been when she was fighting. He worried that Jondy had lost it and, if she had, it meant that she'd been terrified. If she had been it meant that she had been losing; badly. He picked up a book off her floor and looked at it sadly, running light fingers over the spine he bit his lip.

"Alec!" he looked up at Max and blinked slowly. "Are you listening?" She had a hand on her hip as she looked down at him with a raised brow.

"Sorry, I'm just worried."

He watched as her face softened while Zane's went hard, "yeah, well, it would help more if you would pay attention.

Max sighed and gave Zane a look that said 'back off' before she turned back to Alec. "I asked who you thought did this."

"My first guess is White, though this looks messier than his usual work…though I'm sure it being Jondy would account for that. My second would be someone she pissed off." He ran a hand down his face in frustration. "If its someone she pissed off it would be easier, if its White we're going to have some trouble. Either way we have to find where they're keeping her, if she's still alive…"

"Don't even…"

"Face it, Zane, there's a good chance that if it's White she's already dead," he stared Zane down, something yesterday he wouldn't have been able to do, but the thought of Jondy's death seemed to twist something inside of him so that he gave up. Alec went on, "then we have to put together a rescue that won't get us killed."

"We can do it," Max said quietly lifting her chin in determination, her full lips pulled into a tight line.

"We can, but we have to figure out who did it first."

"She's with White," she said sitting down. "This just screams him."

"Yeah, I was just hoping otherwise," Alec ran a hand through his har and his eye met with Zane's. "Before we start doing anything we need to clear something up." Zane just raised and eyebrow," about me and Jondy."

"I don't want to hear it," he growled standing up suddenly.

"Nothing happen…" he waited for the look of disbelief that he knew was coming. "We're friends, that's it. You got mad at her for no reason…I just wanted to make sure that you being angry at me for something I didn't do, didn't get in the way."

"Why should I believe…"

"Because he's with me," Max bit out glaring at her brother. 

"If you want to get Jondy back you're gonna have to believe us. Put on your game face and get over it," Alec frowned at Zane but let a sigh of relief escape his lips when he saw his stance relax. 

"I can do computer stuff but I'm not very good at it," Zane started without preamble. "Jondy always took care of that," he said quietly to his hands as they picked at a tear in the couch.

"We can take care of that…Alec and I will go talk to Logan."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Deep green eyes met brown and he lifted an eyebrow in concern.

"We can handle it," Max smiled and then shrugged. "I can guilt trip him into just about anything at this point."

Alec's eyes narrowed, "guilt trip him my ass. You want to make him jealous."

"Yup," she smiled again. "I think I'm entitled, and who better to help me than my new boyfriend?"

"I'm your boyfriend? I hadn't realized we'd made it official." He laughed at her glare and followed her out of the apartment with a wave at Zane.


	17. Twist that knife

Author's Note: I know this is shorter than usual and it also took awhile, sorry. The next chapter should be action packed and it will have more of the very less-than-sane Jondy that I so enjoy writing and so it should be much better. By the way, I have this story up on my website and there are some pictures of Zane and Jondy that I drew up. If you want to go see them the addy for the site is in my author information/profile thingy. I would appreciate it if you went to take a look. The scans don't do justice to the actual pictures, which I'm somewhat proud of, but they are still pretty good. Plus, why would I not want you people to go to my website? Anyways. Thanks for the reviews; a lot of my readers are funny funny people. Which I love. Alexandra I thought of you and mentioned Syl and Krit...never say I din't think of you ::wide grin:: And Baloo I'll try and take my own mental health into consideration on the whole "to kill or not to kill" matter, promise…though my mental health hasn't been one of my strong suits if you could tell. 

Review, it makes me feel special, gives me ideas, spurs me on to write more and dammit I'm a junkie that just plain needs my fix! 

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 17: Twist that knife

Alec walked into Logan's apartment without knocking like usual and looked over his shoulder to make sure that Max was following him. She smirked as she watched him head immediately for the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and stuck his head in. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

"I don't like the guy but I love his food." Alec answered pulling out some chicken and wiggling his eyebrows at her. "Want some?"

"We don't have time for this."

"Sure we do…" another male voice cut him off. 

"Max?" They both turned, Alec while stuffing a piece of chicken in his mouth and Max with her mouth hanging open, to see Logan standing in the doorway looking lost.

"Hey, old man," Alec said flashing him a smile that could light the city for a month. "We were wondering when you would come around."

Logan's eyes flicked to Alec before he turned back to Max. "I didn't think you would be back. I…I missed you."

She couldn't help the smile when she looked at Alec but it slipped when she turned to the man in the doorway. "Logan," she started coldly, "we need Eyes Only."

"Max, I think we should talk." Logan said taking a step forward and stopping when he noticed Alec come up to put an arm around Max's waist.

"No time for that, roller boy, as she said we need Eyes." He smirked as Max leaned into him and nodded her head innocently. 

They watched as Logan choked silently and grimaced. "What do you need?" he bit out.

"We need to find Jondy," she said as she brushed past him, careful not to touch. 

"Why? She skip town without a forwarding address?" Logan asked raising an eyebrow dryly. 

Alec pursed his lips and patted him on the back rough enough that his glasses slipped down his nose. "I know you're all bent out of shape, but no need to get mean…its your own fault that Max isn't in to ya anymore. Jondy just, you know, told her about it." Alec smirked at Logan and leaned in until his mouth was next to his ear, "thanks about that by the way."

"We think that White got her," Max said after narrowing her eyes in Alec's direction. 

"If that's the case then she's probably already…"

"No, she's not!" Max glared at him dangerously. "I just found her, I'm not loosing her now. You're gonna help me not loose her."

"So do your thang," Alec smirked pulling Max so that her back was against his stomach. He wrapped his arms around her waist and let his chin rest on her shoulder. "We're waiting." He buried his face in the curve of her neck and breathed in slowly, "you smell so good," he mumbled softly but loud enough for Logan to hear.

"I'm not going to help you get yourself killed," Logan said trying his best to ignore Alec.

"You never hesitated in the past when it would help Eyes Only," Alec said dryly, kissing Max's cheek gently; and Logan's attempt to ignore him became almost impossible.

Max shook her head and snorted when Logan, of all people, looked like he wanted to bloody Alec's nose. "You owe me," she said simply. "Find my sister and do it now…Alec and I will take care of the rest." One corner of her mouth lifted slowly as she watched him shake his head. "Hurry up."

"Jondy doesn't have all day," Alec smiled as sweetly as possible and lifted an eyebrow as he nuzzled Max's neck.

~*~

Logan rubbed his eyes and did his best not to glance over his shoulder to where he knew Alec and Max were sitting watching him. It was hard to concentrate when he knew they were back there, holding hands. He could hear them mummer every now and then as his fingers made clicking noises on the keyboard. 

In the past he had felt bile rise in his throat whenever he thought about his Max with that arrogant bastard, and now that he saw the reality of it he was just thankful he hadn't parted company with his lunch. They smiled sweetly each time they caught him looking at them but other than that they didn't acknowledge his presence in the room. In his own home they tuned him out to pay attention to each other. It was a relief when he did finally find something. 

He glanced up and looked at Max biting his lip gently and raised an eyebrow. She knew him well enough to get up and peer over his shoulder, "What is it?" She watched as he called up a map of sector four and pointed.

"Oh, the old man found something," Alec smirked and leaned back effectively masking the fact that he was worried that it had taken so long. He was starting to get antsy; the longer Jondy was away the less of a chance they would have to get her living breathing body away from White. He didn't think he would be able to handle loosing one of his friends, not to mention what Max and Zane's reactions would be.

"Unmarked cars have been moving in and out of a warehouse on Broad and Eagle for the past three days. And hover drones have been conspicuously absent. It's not a military facility it's just an abandoned warehouse, but it's the closest thing to a lead that I have."

"Broad and Eagle?" Alec sat up from his catlike lounging and shared a look with Max. "That doesn't make much sense, that place is pretty heavily populated."

"Its not sound judgement to keep a transgenic that close to people," Max nodded her head in agreement. "A little too noisy when they get angry."

"Unless they aren't keeping them." Logan said quietly not meeting either pair of eyes.

"Look…" Alec started to stand.

"White has this strange tendency to keep transgenics around for a while." She looked at Alec who was watching her with pressed lips. "For experimentation or torture," her voice cracked softly before she went on, "or, in Alec's case, to make a deal."

"She would have had to be the one to make the deal, and she's not quite as desperate to stay alive as I am."

"Even if that's true, she's not stupid, she could have made a deal she didn't have any intention on keeping."

"No, she's not stupid…but she's not afraid to die either," Alec put a hand on Max's arm. "From how the apartment looked we don't know if she's in the right mental health to try and save her life. It sucks but it's there."

Max shook her head, "that's not necessarily true. She wouldn't have had to be the one to try and deal." She leaned down to look at Alec, Logan completely forgotten behind her. "They have files and information from Manticore it's safe to assume that they would be able to do research on a transgenic based on their barcode…"

"And with her being an escapee from the Wyoming facility in '09 they could easily figure she would be a good piece of bait to get you."

"If she's bait then it's a trap," Logan said softly. "A trap that you won't have much luck to get out of."

"Let us worry about that, Logie," Alec smirked and wiggled his eyebrows. "I'm sure we can figure something out." A knock rang out through the apartment and all three froze for a second, "someone knocked…how quaint."

"What person would knock at Logan's?" Max blinked slowly. "Don't they know this is a free for all kind of apartment?" They watched as Logan sighed and walked over to the door, his exoskeleton making soft hissing noises. They stayed silent to listen to see who it was.

"Asha," they heard Logan say distantly, his voice strained and unhappy.

"Of course Asha would knock." Max rolled her eyes and smiled at Alec who was shaking his head sadly.

"I don't think he's too happy to see her," he whispered back at her with a smirk.

"Come on, he gave up every chance he had with me for her. Guys got to be a little unhappy." She flipped a cascade of silky black hair over her shoulder and batted long thick eyelashes at him.

"Bet he blames it all on her."

"He's only half right."

Alec laughed and plastered on an innocent expression, "what? Don't you think she tried to seduce him and he couldn't hold out any longer? He's only a mere mortal after all."

"Anyway it played out he let little Logan think for big Logan and that's never a very good idea."

"I can't say that I disagree." Just then Logan walked in with Asha trailing in behind him. Alec looked up and smirked, "it's the squeak toy!" He watched her grimace and laughed. "Well, it's been fun but we have important things to take care of."

"Yeah, nice seeing you again," Max smiled sweetly at Asha as Alec took her hand and lead her out. 

"Max!" Logan called after her and sighed when he heard the front door click softly.

~*~

They watched Zane closely as he paced back and forth through Jondy's room, in his hand he held her gun so tightly that his fingers had gone white. They had walked in five minutes ago and didn't know if it was a good idea to try and disturb him. Sasha was sitting next to them as if to say, 'now's not the time to go in there.' 

"Zane," Alec said softly and jumped when green eyes glared at him. He had never realized just how much Zane cared about Jondy until he saw the hollow space behind his eyes that said he was very much afraid that she was dead.

"What?"

"We have a lead."

The glare disappeared and Alec saw the Zane from two days ago very briefly, "where?"

"On Broad and Eagle.' When Zane started to walk past him he grabbed his arm gently. "We have to be careful about this."

"You be careful…I'm getting her back." Alec dropped his hands and grimaced.

"Yes, you are. If you be careful…you won't be much good to her if you get yourself killed trying to ride in on a white horse."

"We're going to get her back," Max said putting a hand on his shoulder gently and lifted her eyebrows. "Believe me there's no way I'm leaving her there."

"Then what's the plan?" he took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. "I'll behave."

"Good," she let the corners of her lips pull slightly upwards, "because we need you." She was silent for a short time before she started again talking down to her hands. "Do you think we should tell any of the others, maybe get some help? Like Syl and Krit or anyone?" 

"There's not enough time for them to get down here. Right now they're living on the other side of the country." Zane said simply, shaking his head unhappily.

"Should we tell them, just incase something happens?" She went on her wide chocolate eyes peering up into dark green uncertain of how he would take the suggestion.

"I'll do it on the way over there." He smiled down at her sadly and then shook his head sharply. His game mask slipping into place, "what's the layout?" He asked his jaw clenching as his shoulders pulling back sharply. "How much do we know about the facility?"

Alec smirked, "factory old and abandoned. So far that's all we know."

"We aren't even sure that's where they're keeping her, but it's our best bet." She shrugged and nodded her head towards the door. "The best way to figure anything else out would be recon."

"Let's go then," Zane said throwing Jondy's small gun onto her bed and walking into his room to get his own. He stopped in his door way his shoulders slumped slightly, "what happens if she isn't there?"

"We keep looking," Max answered in a whisper that she knew sounded like booming thunder in his ears. "We just keep looking." He turned to look at her and she didn't think she could breath for a long moment. The weight of his gaze suffocating.

"Do you promise?"

"I promise."


	18. Daughter of Cacophony

Author's Note: Wow. I got a lot of reviews for the last chapter…which made me hurry up and write this chapter by the way. See you do make a difference! Thanks. The song from chapter 16 was Pink's "18-Wheeler" from her new albumn. And the next question I'm going to adress...How is not so sane Jondy different from sane Jondy? Well, I mumbled to myself about this for a good ten minutes until I came up with the answer. Less than sane Jondy is more violent than sane Jondy. I hope you guys went and checked out my Jondy and Zane pics that I drew. Do tell me what you thought of them when you review like you know you're supposed to for this chapter. Now I know most of you are going to read this chapter and half way through your gonna go "Noooo!" but trust me it's all for the best. 

Review, I'm a junkie looking for her fix…when she should be reading a book for her medieval studies class. 

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 18: Daughter of Cacophony

"I don't see anything," Alec said softly straining his eyes to see into the building across the street. 

"Everything looks legit," Max grimaced as she watched a truck pull out of the warehouse. One of the very limited signs of life that they had seen the entire day.

"Why would there be unmarked cars for Logan to tell you about and isn't this supposed to be abandoned?" Zane asked shaking his head and running a hand through his hair. They were crouching on the roof of a building directly opposite of the warehouse in question. They had sat there for a good three hours as the sun went down behind them, and nothing seemed to be happening.

"Maybe we have the wrong warehouse," Alec suggested curling his lip slightly.

"No," Max shook her head slowly. "I got a look at Logan's map. This is the warehouse."

"I doesn't make sense," Alec agreed with a nod, his brow furrowing as he glanced at Max. "What should we do?"

"Fall back and look for another lead maybe?"

Zane held up a hand, "Can we try for a closer look? I just want to make sure." Wide green eyes met brown and then blue and all Max and Alec could do was nod. They shouldered the backpacks they had let fall to the ground and made their way down the backside of the building they had set up on and took alleyways to the warehouse in question, despite their misgivings they still didn't want to be seen.

"You'd think they would have realized overcrowding the business district was a bad idea…these buildings almost touch," Alec grumbled when they were finally standing beside the warehouse.

"You'd think they would have learned their lesson from the 1500s," Zane agreed with a nod, running a hand along the brick wall looking for an entrance.

"What are you talking about?" Max asked, her lips curling slowly.

"Market places and towns inside castles were usually wood and built with little room to spare," Zane explained absently. "Fire's had a tendency to break out and very little could be done about putting them out. Not much of a history buff are you?" He glanced at her with a smile.

"No…I never thought it was that important." She followed his lead and walked around the corner of the building, Alec trailing along behind smirking.

"History will repeat itself if you don't pay attention to it," he muttered under his breath.

"Shut up."

"I'm just sayin'."

"Shut up, Alec."

"Some things never change," he opened his mouth to say something more but a glare from Zane made him snap it shut. 

"There should be more doors than this," Max said with a shake of her head. "It's like they put brick over where the doors."

"There are windows," Alec supplied blithely, smiling sweetly at Max.

"The problem being most of them have bars on them."

Zane shrugged and held up a finger pointing to the roof, "we can try another way."

"So we scale the wall," Max said with a shrug and got a rope out of her backpack.

"Saying Jondy is here what happens when someone looks out a window?"

"My guess would be duck," Zane said with a glare.

Alec pursed his lips and shrugged with a sigh, "Right, forgot about that option."

Zane glanced at Max with a smirk; "Your boyfriend talks a lot."

"Nah, really?" She threw her rope, tied to a grappling hook, onto the roof and pulled it with the full weight of her body. When it held she smiled at the two men, "you comin' or not?"

They both followed her example and followed her up to the roof of the building. Alec paused halfway up to glance in a window with a groan; "I don't see anyone in this place."

"Would you stop complaining and keep climbing?" Max slapped his arm gently.

"But that's no fun, Maxie."

"You 'accidentally' falling to the ground, when I kick your ass, won't be any fun either."

"Sometimes I wonder if you really care," he pouted and batted his insanely long lashes at her.

"Shut up," Zane hissed suddenly, his head cocked to the side. "I hear something."

Max and Alec exchanged a glance before cocking their heads as well. For a long moment they didn't hear anything and there was a soft mumbling of a song. So low that they almost couldn't hear it. "Someone's singing 'Rock-a-bye,'" Alec said more to himself than anyone else.

"Jondy's singing 'Rock-a-bye," Zane said with a grin.

"How do you know?" Zane just looked at him with one raid eyebrow. "Right, sorry."

"Then we were right she's alive…" Max started with a sigh of relief.

"And heavily drugged," Zane mumbled, at the looks he received he shrugged. "She mumbles songs when she's drugged up…An ER crew back east thought it was the strangest thing they'd ever heard." He smiled, "what? You're surprised?"

Alec smirked, "Not really." 

They were climbing again, determined that now they knew Jondy was alive she was going to stay that way. Once on the roof they looked for access into the warehouse; all they found was a vent. Big enough for them to fit into crouching but not big enough for any maneuvering if they got into any trouble. Wiggling his eyebrows and smirking Alec was the first one to drop down into the metal shaft, Zane and Max soon following. The end of their vent lead to overlook the main warehouse, a room large enough to fit all three of their apartments and Logan's with room to spare. To the side was a platform that stood high above the pain floor. The problem was the vent was covered with a metal grate cemented in to the wall. 

They tried to dislodge it but the metal wouldn't budge. Footsteps told them that to try more would only get them caught. Five men walked onto the platform with straight backs and stiff lips. Suddenly they heard Jondy's voice, more coherent than fifteen minutes ago, but still fuzzy. "Nobody loves me, Nobody cares, Nobody picks me peaches and pears. Nobody offers me candy and Cokes; Nobody listens and laughs at my jokes. Nobody helps when I get in a fight, Nobody does all my homework at night." All three sat crouched above the scene as they watched Jondy being brought out, her bare feet dragging on the floor as two men carried her by her arms. Her hair hung in a blond and blue cascade over her face and back so that it seem the voice came from no where. "Nobody misses me, Nobody cries, Nobody thinks I'm a wonderful guy. So if you ask me who's my best friend, in a whiz, I'll stand up and tell you that, 'Nobody is.' But yesterday night I got quite a scare, I woke up and Nobody just wasn't there. " Another man followed her watching with narrow eyes as she finished the poem. "I called out and reached out for Nobody's hand, in the darkness where Nobody usually stands. Then I poked through the house, in each cranny and nook, but I found somebody each place that I looked. I searched till I'm tired, and now with the dawn, there's no doubt about it-- Nobody's gone!" 

He turned slowly to talk to one of the original five men and Zane heard Max breathe the name "White."

"You're doing it again," White smiled cruelly down at Jondy. It faltered when she didn't lift her head. "Look at me," he ordered softly.

Jondy lifted her head slowly, her blond hair falling away to reveal wild blue eyes, a knife cut along her cheek and chin, and her lips split in a grotesque grin. It unnerved Zane more than anything else, that grin, she had been pushed over the edge and he started to worry that she would never be able to be pulled back. White was talking again, his voice arrogant and controlled.

"Transgenic freak…"

"Can't come up with something new, hmm?" Jondy asked, blinking up at him serenely.

"As we discussed earlier, man made you…" he tried to go on but once again she interrupted him.

"Mad as a hatter!"

"Excuse me?" His control wavered as he knelt down infront of her. 

"They. Made. Me. Mad. As. A. Hatter," she pronounced slowly, leaning in so that her lips were an inch from his. "Are you deaf or stupid?" His fist came out connecting with her stomach; she doubled up around his fist with a grimace. Zane started forward but Max caught his arm, "too many familiars we have to wait."

"They're going to kill her," he whispered back.

"They'll kill us if we go in now," Alec whispered his eyes scanning the area.

Jondy open her mouth to say something, shut it, and then opened it again, "I'd say 'oww' but I'm numb from my neck down." She smiled, "I'm sure if I could feel anything that would have hurt though," she spoke as if she was trying to reassure him, not something he apparently wanted to hear. His fist came out again snapping her head around, her hair once again becoming a veil over her face. 

"I told you, X5-210, that I would let you live if you agreed to work with us." He smiled coldly and put a hand under her chin to lift it up. "If you don't I'm going to kill you here and now."

Jondy blinked the fire in her eyes growing brighter as she stared at him, "I wasn't very coherent the last time we talked."

"I remember…each day you have a little less animal in you," he commented and lifted an eyebrow, "what of it?"

"I didn't get the chance to ask you what happened to the dog?" The question caught everyone in the room off guard. Zane stared down at her with his mouth hanging open and his eyes bulging out of his head. 

White, however, stopped for a long time to look down at her with narrowed eyes before sneering, "what dog?"

"The one at the apartment, nincompoop, German Shepherd, big, barked a lot, probably bit someone."

"Well, you'll find out if you take the job." 

"We were right about him wanting her to help him," Max whispered to Alec. 

"She's not going to take the deal though," Alec hissed back, his stomach dropping as he watched White lean in and whisper something too low for any of them to hear it. 

Jondy smiled electric eyes flashing and stuck her tongue out at him before she started to sing, "You remind me of the babe. What babe? The babe with the power. What power? The power of voodoo. Who do? You do. Do what? Remind me of the babe."

"Shut her up," White told the men, sighing as though the last day with Jondy had been exhausting. Something in the back of his mind told Zane that it probably had been. 

"I saw my baby crying, hard as babes could cry. What could I do? My babies love had gone and left my baby blue. No body knew what kind of magic spell to use. Slime or snails or puppy dog tails. Thunder or lightening. And baby said, 'dance magic dance' magic... " Her song was cut off suddenly when a man kicked her from behind, an 'oof' falling from her lips instead of music, causing her to fall out of the other two men's grasps. A red head bent to pick her up but before anyone realized what was happening she had turned and snapped his neck in one easy motion. Her foot lashed out, her bare foot connecting with one of her captors' faces. She stood in one fluid motion, a cat turned human, with a gun in her hand from the dead man and backed away from the other men. "I might have exaggerated about not having any feeling below my neck," she admitted with a smile.

Zane, Max, and Alec struggles with the grate, pushing their whole bodies into the effort to tear it away, but it didn't move. "Get it open," Zane hissed gun shots, ringing through the warehouse impossibly loud, covering his voice. 

One man went down, blood running down from one perfect hole in the middle of his forehead. Jondy was at the edge of the platform, her elbow snapping one man's head around as her knee met with a sickening thud in another's groin. Alec stopped for a long moment to look down at her, one hand wrapped around someone's neck and a snarl ripped from her throat, and saw for a terrifying moment the trapped animal she would have been if she hadn't escaped Manticore when she did. She was turning with her fist just barely touching a blonde's chin when another gunshot rang out. 

She froze for a split second before turning and crumpling. Zane's eyes moved of there own violation to rest on White who stood with his gun outstretched and his face blank. Eyes, so bright that Zane could see the color perfectly from his perch, went wide with shock at the impact. He would have screamed except for the hands that covered his mouth and held him back. The world had suddenly gone into slow motion. Zane couldn't hear anything, he saw mouths move but no voices intruded on the perfect silence in his head as he watched her. It seemed forever that Jondy stood there hunched over herself before she toppled. One slender foot slipping and then the other. 

She was falling forever, her body floating down to the floor while one hand reached into the air as if she could find a beam of light substantial enough to hold her weight. Her mouth gapped as she stared at the dwindling ceiling in wonder.

Cat reflexes turned her over so that she landed on her feet with a dull thud, but the bones that should have been there disappeared from her body and she slid to the ground. One hand tried to hold her up, while the other held the unseen wound, but it too was suddenly boneless and couldn't support the inexplicable weight of her full body.

She lay on her stomach, eyes as blue as lightening opened wide blinked once and then closed. The metallic smell of blood hung heavy in Zane's nose; he could see the tears glistening in Max's eyes from the corner of his own. He refused to tear his eyes from the sight of Jondy's still form to look over at Alec farther back behind him. 

As he watched she stilled, her back stopped moving, stopped swelling with the intake of air and apparently the men in long coats and fake police badges were thinking the same thing he was.

"Check to see if she's alive," White ordered with a sneer. Scrambling down a set of stairs to the ground below one man knelt next to the body, and Zane choked on the description that his own traitorous mind offered. But the shake of the man's head, his fingers still against the place where her pulse should have been, confirmed it. White cursed under his breath and started to walk back the way he had come earlier.

"Sir, the body?" The man still kneeling next to her asked.

"What about it?" White asks coldly, turning with one eyebrow raised.

"What do you want us to do with it?"

"Leave it," he snapped.

"Leave it? But, sir…"

"You heard me, it's useless to us now," White sighed down at another body. "She managed to kill two more of my men before she went down…collect their bodies and let's go."

The man looked back at the still body one last time before he followed the others in picking up the two dead men and filing out. Leaving one body in a cold heap on the floor.

It was a lifetime before the left and it was another lifetime before they could get out of the vent. Alec got a knife out of his backpack and attacked the sheet metal that made the walls of their prison, cursing with every pound of his fist and knife, barely holding back tears as he worked. No one talked as they made their way across the rafters and onto the platform. Zane paused at the edge of the steps; not sure he could make that last and final walk down to where the body of the one constant in his life lay still and cold. 

He felt a light hand on his arm and looked up into impossibly large watery brown eyes. He opened his mouth to say something to her but all that he could manage was a strangled whimper before he turned away and started down the stairs, with his fists clenched at his side. Tears were already leaving trails down his face as he rounded the platform's corner to come face to face with the corpse that had been Jondy. 

Heavy eyelashes fell in crescent moon on her cheeks, already drained of color. He fell to his knees next to her; not paying any attention to the blood that was suddenly soaking through his jeans. Brushing a hand across her cheek, he pulled a strand of hair from her face. His breath came in raged gasps as he tried not to scream when he touched cold unfeeling flesh.

Dimly he realized that people were sitting around him. With cold green eyes he looked up to see Alec touching Jondy's outstretched hand slowly, reverently, as though touching her would make this ghastly scene real. Max sat next to him, wanting to touch her but terrified to feel the cold skin that had been so warm earlier, so she clutched at Alec's arm in an act of desperation to be grounded in the real world. Zane wrenched his eyes away, with the surety and knowledge that if he didn't stop looking at the dead face lying on the floor he would go insane. 

His hands fisted in his hair as he held back his sobs, doubled over his eye clenched shut he felt a keening wail rise in his throat. He heard a gasp behind him, full and throaty and resonating through the room because it didn't belong; didn't fit into the numb silence. He turned and green eyes meet wide wide blue ones and then brown. Alec's mouth hung gaping open and so did Max's but as he watched them a nagging in the back of his mind told him that it wasn't them that had gasped. 

"I'm melting. I'm melting." A high pitched voice proclaimed in a four star performance of the wicked witch of the west. His eyes flitted down slowly to meet Electric blue, "Oh what a world what a world." Lips that were turning a bright red finished, her cheek smashed up against the floor. "I'm not dead yet you, little prick."

Zane couldn't seem to move fast enough, fumbling with her body to turn her over as he lifted her into his arms. "Oh my God, Jondy…" he choked out as he heard the hysterical laughter of Alec and Max dimly in the background.

One corner of Jondy's lips lifted slowly," I take it you never learned that trick." She pulled the hand away that had clutched at her side to reveal the deep gash that the bullet scraping against her side had left. "It's just a flesh wound."

Zane blinked down at her, his mouth hanging open as he looked down at her innocent blue eyes and wide grin and lost it. "If you ever scare me like that again, I swear, you won't be able to move for a month!"

Jondy laughed but clutched at her side again with a grimace. "I feel loved." She felt Alec touch her face and turned to face him and Max with a smile. "You weren't worried or anything were you? You should know me well enough to know I'm going out with way more style than that."

A.N. 2: Tell me the truth did I get ya? Did you think I had actually killed her?


	19. Bleeding here

Author's Note: ::pointing and laughing:: Ha Ha you believed me. I got you. Nah nah na boo boo. I thought that that chapter went well…and so did you apparently from the way you guys came out of the wood work to review. Wow, I had no idea so many people were reading this story without writing me reviews. Bad non-reviewers. Good reviewers, I like you. Sorry this installment took so long my mom's surprise birthday party was this weekend and I had to go down to Memphis to be one of her surprise presents…that's so cool. I'm a present. Anyways. Have any of you ever realized that if you are out in public and just sit down on the floor, for example the hallway of a theater, people find you intensely interesting? So much so that all of them feel the need to come up and talk to you? Trust me, they do. And when you try to explain to them that you're a present so you can't go home…explaining four times over that 'no, you didn't get kicked out of your house, you just aren't allowed to come home.' There's a very big difference there…you become even more intriguing. Fun stuff. This story is drawing to a close…next chapter I'll give you options on what I'm going to be writing next. Stay tuned for that.

Review like mad little bunnies! 

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 19: Bleeding here

"How?' was all Zane could manage to get out for a long moment as Jondy laughed up at him. That infuriating laugh was going to be the end of her if she wasn't careful. She stretched out on their couch, a pillow under her back and another under her legs. They had made it back to their apartment, Alec and Max following as Zane carried Jondy. She wasn't seriously hurt but she wasn't up to the long trek after two days of being under heavy medication. 

"Neat trick, huh?" she grinned from her position on the couch pushing her feet under Sasha's body to keep them warm. Zane was having trouble breathing as it struck him once again how close he had come to loosing her for good. "Zack taught it to me a while back actually…I thought everybody knew that one. Apparently not."

"Apparently," Alec ground out but couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face.

"Well, color me red." She batted her eyelashes innocently at both men. Even with the bruises blossoming across her face along with angry red lines left by some man's knife she was beautiful. Full lips twisted into a smirk, long dark lashes falling over blue eyes, and delicate cheekbones; it was as though the experience had refined her, polishing her, rather than tarnishing her. 

"You going to tell us what you did?" Max asked, sitting down next to Jondy and handing her a glass of water. "He took your pulse and didn't even know you weren't dead."

"Zack explained it as 'giving everything to the ground.' We have an amazing amount of control over our bodies so I just kind of slowed my breathing and heartbeat until there was almost nothing left. Then I 'forced' my body heat into the ground." She shrugged then winced when the movement caused more pain than expected. "I don't know how I do it exactly, I just _do_ it. I'm kinda like Nike."

Zane let his head fall onto her shoulder and sighed, "you took a long time to wake up."

She touched his head gently with light fingertips, "sorry. It's hard to get everything jump started again."

"Great entrance though," Alec said with a smirk.

"I thought you might appreciate that." Her eyes went back to Zane and she grinned, "I'm sleeping in your room tonight, by the way."

"Why?" His face fell for a second as something occurred to him. "Not that I'm complaining or anything."

"You didn't clean my room while I was held captive by psycho cult members."

"I need to clean your room? You're the one who was stupid enough to fight in it."

"I'm also the one who was beaten bloody, given heavy sedatives, and got shot." She lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes. "You're cleaning!"

"She got you there," Max said with a smile, lightly slapping his shoulder.

"You could help me," Zane said with a smile as he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Nope," she grinned back, "I gotta stay here incase she needs me." Her eyes flitted to Alec who was watching in rapt fascination at sibling rivalry. "Alec will help you."

He blinked several time, wondering how that had happened, "excuse me?"

"You'll help him or I'll be forced to put you in a world o' hurt."

Alec turned to Zane and gave him a strained smile; "I'll help ya."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. She's quoting Original Cindy I'm in trouble otherwise," he clapped Zane on the back and stood slowly ruffling Jondy's hair gently before turning on his heal.

Jondy fiddled with a fray on her jeans as she and Max watched Alec and Zane walk quietly into her room exchanging sighs and rolling their eyes. She shifted her eyes to Max, who was still watching them with a smile tugging on her lips. She waited, biting on the inside of her cheek, until large brown eyes turned to her. "We're leaving soon," she started without preamble.

"Max nodded and swallowed, "I was hoping you'd stick around for a while."

"We were going to…I just think we need to find Zack before the next catastrophe hit me in over the head." 

"Sound judgement anytime you're in Seattle," Max was watching her hands rest entwined in her lap.

Jondy smiled and slapped her arm gently. "It's not like we won't come back." She laughed throwing her head back when Max started pouting, her bottom lip sticking out. "Don't think for a second that I'm ever letting you go long without a call from your resident jut box crazy girl."

"Of course not," a smile broke out on Max's face. She leaned forward to hug Jondy, who patted her arm awkwardly, not in a position to return the full hug. 

"I just thought I should give you a heads up that we'd be leaving when I don't look like I've been attacked by an evil cheese grater from hell."

"I was enjoying having you around."

"Understandable since I'm fun to be around," Jondy grinned, showing off perfectly white teeth. "So much fun, in fact, that I deserve ice cream…lots and lots of ice cream.

"So you want ice cream now?"

"Uh huh," Jondy nodded her head happily her hair bobbing up and down over the couch arm. "Of the moose tracks variety." There was a loud crash from the other room followed by Alec's call of "oops." Jondy winced and turned to Max slowly, "why do I have the sudden feeling that I have no more lamps left in my room.

"Wishful thinking that it's all he's broken so far."

She shook her head and then smiled, "I wanted new ones anyway." She grinned, "Maybe I can get some with neon green tassels! That would be so God awful that it would have to be cool." Max just shook her head and got up to get ice cream.

Zane stuck his head into the living room with a sheepish grin, "hey, Jondy?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember that blue sweater you wear all the time?"

"Yes," Jondy's eye's narrowed slowly.

"You never really like it, did you?"

Alec's head came into view, "I mean, if something happened to it you wouldn't be crushed or anything, right?"

"No!" Jondy's jaws dropped, "that was my most favoritist sweater in the whole wide world! You bastards!"

"Calm down, I'll buy you a new one," Alec called with his hands held up in surrender. 

"He did it!" Zane's head disappeared once again followed by Alec's.

Jondy pointed at the bedroom and looked at Sasha, "sic 'em!" Sasha dropped her chin onto her paws and looked at her with large brown eyes sadly. Jondy whimpered before turning to Max, who was scooping ice cream into a bowl trying not to laugh, "I think I'm gonna need a whole lot of that."

"Poor baby."

"I told them to clean, not to destroy or make a bigger mess!" She shook her head and ran a hand through her hair unhappily. "Break one more thing and I start singing the song that never ends! You'll never survive the onslaught!"

"What if we broke something before you said that?" Zane asked, wisely keeping his head from view.

"You little…"

"Ice cream!" Max called cheerfully handing the full bowl to Jondy and sitting down with one of her own.

Jondy shoveled in a scoop of ice cream and pouted, she heard an "oh shit," and lost it. "Get out of my room and get out of my room now!" There was a loud tromping noise and Zane and Alec came into view grinning and clapping each other on the backs. "I realize you don't enjoy cleaning but did you have to break my stuff to get out of it?"

Zane's smile dropped off his face as he watched her eyes go wide and tear up. She sniffled gently and his shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry, we didn't mean to. We only actually broke the lamp."

Jondy batted her eyelashes up at him, "good, then go finish cleaning…Alec?" She smiled sweetly.

"Yes?" he asked warily his eye narrowing.

"Break anything else of mine and I'll break your kneecaps…now finish my room." She smiled up at Max; "men are just easy."

"Tell me about it." Max shook her head smiling softly once again watching Alec's retreating backside.

Jondy watched from beneath her lashes and couldn't stop the soft laugh from escaping. "You really like him don't you?"

Max met her eyes before looking down at her hands, "I guess."

"Don't lie." Jondy slapped her shoulder; "you're adorably head over heels."

"We aren't…"

"If you say 'we aren't like that' I'm gonna smack you over the head _so_ hard. Original Cindy warned me about your little prancin' act, and ain't no way I'm lettin' you get away with it." Jondy smirked, "and if you aren't 'like that' yet, _girl_, what you waitin' for? Get jiggy with it already!"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, please, that fine piece of ass in there is all yours." Jondy leaned in and whispered, "start taking advantage."

"All right, you want to toss around advice for getting busy?" Max made a whip like motion with her neck and raised one black eyebrow playfully. "How about you?"

"What about me?"

"You gonna get busy with Zane?" she said delicately her wide brown eyes growing larger.

Jondy opened her mouth, blinked, closed it, then opened it again, "maybe…someday." She shrugged, "I have reasons for not jumping Zane's bones immediately. You are already with Alec, you don't have reasons not to."

"And what are your reasons."

"They're big ones, way big, _so_ big." She lifted her arms up and spread them out wide. "Way out there kind of big."

"Scared out of your mind aren'tcha?"

"No…not exactly. I mean, I wouldn't use those words exactly." She made hissing noises through her teeth. "Scared, me? Nah, not possible, nope I refuse to believe it."

"Jondy!"

"What?"

"He's in love with you; it's so obvious not even I can find fault, even with the sibling thing." Max nudged her gently. "Why haven't you…gotten things straightened out yet?"

Jondy swallowed softly and let her lips lift ever so slightly down at her hands. "Have you ever fallen from something really tall? Like I did tonight," she laughed and waited for the nod. "You know that disorienting feeling when you've stopped moving but it seems like the rest of the world is still tilting back into line?"

"Yeah, kind of." Max cocked her head and noticed that all noise from the bedroom had stopped.

"It hasn't stopped tilting yet since I fell last time." 

"What do you mean?"

She shrugged, "I'm afraid that one of these days I'll wake up and have forgotten him."

"Ben?" Max asked softly, her voice cracking as her brows drew together. Jondy nodded mutely biting her lip, not looking at her anymore. "Jondy…"

"I know I won't…I'm just worried that it might happen." She let her head fall to the side as she stared at the wall blankly. "If I kiss someone, like Zane, too many times I won't remember how he kissed, or I won't associate his smell with watching the sunrise from a rooftop anymore."

"Jondy…"

"It's stupid."

"No, no it's not." Max smiled and put her head on Jondy's shoulder closing her eyes as she felt her fingers toy with her hair. 

"Yes it is…I could never forget Ben, ever." Max felt her smile, "I just need the world to stop tilting for a little while. Just long enough for me to catch my breath." Jondy stopped and her eyebrows pulled together in confusion. She sat up straight causing Max to lift her head. 

"What?"

"The apartment is curiously quiet."

"Curiously."

"Time to…investigate." Jondy pulled herself up onto her feet gritting her teeth and waving Max's helping hand away. "I'm gonna have to have a talk with that cheese grater from hell about this."

"You tell it, sister."

"Trust me, you're gonna walk in here tomorrow and I'll be having a fight with a cheese grater."

"The part that worries me is that you're right."

"If I was rich you could call me eccentric." She stopped right in front of her bedroom door and sighed before she pushed it open gently. She peeked her head into the room and then pulled it back throwing her hand over her mouth to stop from laughing. 

"What is it?" Max pushed her aside and peered into the room, pulling out with a giggle. "Well, then, such hard workers they are." 

Jondy pushed the door all the way open to see Alec sprawled out on her bed one arm thrown over his eyes and Zane with his head bowed over his lap a book lying on the floor next to his hand. Both were asleep. "And they barely got anything done, slackers." She leaned down next to Zane running a gently hand through his silky black hair. He snorted and shook his head, blinking his eyes up at her warily.

"I was cleaning."

"And I just found a barrel full of monkey's in the hallway." She smiled, "com' on. At least get up on the bed."

"Are you gonna sleep with me?" He asked, his voice husky with sleep.

She glanced up onto the bed where Alec lay smack dab in the middle of the king sized bed and then to Max who was trying not to laugh. "Sure. Let's do that." She motioned with her head for Max to help her as she rolled Alec onto his side farther over to the other side; an annoyed grunt was his only reply. Jondy started to lean down to help Zane up but stopped right before her side protested and she smacked him upside the head.

"What was that for?"

"Get onto the bed."

"I'm not sleeping with Alec," he said indignantly with a pout that rivaled Max's.

"I'm not telling you too. I'll be sleeping between you." She smiled at Max. "Climb on in on the other side. It's a sleep over."

"Didn't you used to do that all the time with Brin and Syl?" Zane asked with his eyebrows pulling together sleepily as she flicked the overhead light off.

"Yup, but there was a lot less sleeping and a whole lot more talking." She crawled from the end of the bed until she was lying on her back between Zane and Alec. She felt the bed shift as Max laid down next to Alec. "Night, guys."

Two grunts and a "'night" were her answers before she let exhaustion pull darkness across her eyes.


	20. Did I mention I'm insane?

Author's Note: hello again my friends! How are you this fine day? Aren't you happy I have managed to get this chapter out ahead of schedule? …True this is a really fluffy chapter but I think I needed to put some fluff into my life. After the next chapter this story will be over…I'm very sad about this. I'll be finishing it up just as I go home for the summer. Not so sad anymore! Sorry, school has been hell this year. So your choices for the next story that I'm going to put out…no guarantees that its going to be a quick getting it out there for ya. First option: we go back into the past and explore the relationship between Jondy and Ben. I've got some fun ideas for that, you'll get visits from Zacky-poo and you'll get to see when Jondy "accidentally" blew up her apartment. Max will not be in this story. Second option: You get to see the time that Jondy and Zane spend with Zack at the farm trying to help him get better. There will be some M/A though not a whole lot, cuz Max is just no help in the whole Zack area. I'm kind of weary of that one because I don't know how well I would be able to do it. Third and fourth options are complete AU from the DA universe that I made for this story. Third option: an M/A where we see me bring them together in a whole new light completely different from "Have you ever?" but with the same basic results. Happy M/A shippers galore. Fourth option: I noticed a lot of chemistry between Alec and Jondy though I tried to ignore it…I can't really help it, not only do I feel sorry for the poor guy and want to give him friends but he's hot and 'nuff said. It will be the same Jondy and Alec personalities without them being attached to certain someone's. Totally different universe otherwise. Tell me what you want to see next and of course tell me how you like this particular chapter as well. Even though I have no smut in it. Promise if you're good I'll put some into the next one for ya. 

Review, the author hears you and cries out for more!

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 20: Did I mention I'm insane?

Her feet pounded on the forest floor and the world was a blur around her. Her loud breathing was the only sound even as she pushed and snapped branches in an effort to get them out of her way. "Jondy!" Someone called her name; masculine voice full of anger laced sorrow.

She ran faster, too afraid to turn, knowing that if she did she would slow down enough to be caught. Her feet were no longer the only ones pounding on the dead leaves that make up the ground. She came skidding to a halt, her toes hanging over the edge of a creek. She thought fast, it wasn't too high, the walls would be just above her head, but she would waste time scrambling back up the other side. She could jump it she was sure.

"Jondy!" She couldn't stop from casting a look over her shoulder, her mouth hanging open for a heartbeat. There was a flash of color between the trees, her heart skipped a beat and she turned her body readying for the jump. Only to find the other bank had moved farther away and the creek bed had dropped. It was a canyon now, too far to jump and too far down to take the risk.

"Jondy," the voice was right behind her, if she turned he would be within the length of her arm. 

__

'Turn or jump,' she thought, _'turn or jump.'_

"Look at me," new words to add to the mix clamoring in her head.

__

'Turn then jump, or jump then turn.' she thought. She was crying now, could feel the burning tears trace the lines of her cheeks. She could feel the hand reaching for her shoulder and tried not to flinch. "Look and me, Jondy." His voice cracked and she closed her eyes tightly not wanting to turn and see whose face would meet her. Strong fingers touched her shoulder and the world spun until she was facing him even as she faced the canyon still before her somehow. Hands touched her cheeks and pleaded with her to open her eyes.

Dark blue met with electric blue and she couldn't breath even as they shifted to forest green and then back to blue. "I'm sorry," he said softly. His lips grazing her cheek, tasting her tears, and leaving a fiery trail across them. 

"I am too," she whispered and then jumped.

~*~

She was awake, her eyes were closed but she was awake. She could feel an arm thrown over her side and her back spooned against a hard muscled front. It was a comforting weight, an anchor into reality away from dreams. Three different smells swirled around her and she was too confused to name them so she opened her eyes slowly. The world was blurry for a long second before it focused.

Lying next to her, on his back, was a sight she had woken to a hundred times, a face chiseled and perfect. Serene in sleep. "Ohmigod," she practically yelled and was out of the bed on her feet before she realized that she was moving.

Three pairs of eyes were looking at her in sleepy confusion. "What?" Max asked from the pillow of Alec's chest. "Something wrong?"

Jondy just pointed at Alec her eyes wide and her breath coming in ragged gasps. "You are never sleeping next to me ever again!" She was laughing even before she finished. "Never," she emphasized through a laugh a hand pressed to her forehead as she turned to walk out the door into the living room.

She could feel Alec following her, and the sound of Max and Zane talking quietly, too low for her to make out words. She wrapped her arms around the pole that ran from the kitchen counter to the ceiling. Resting her head against the cold surface her hair fell over her face in a veil.

"You ok?" Alec asked softly, standing next to her but careful not to touch her.

She turned her arms still wrapped in a death grip around the pole and her cheek pressed hard against it, "flash back fun."

"Ah, I guess waking up next to me can be traumatic…" he froze for a second, eyebrows pulling together as he thought about his statement. She couldn't stop from laughing as he went on. "If you had dated my twin." 

"It was mostly that I had just had a dream about him and then waking up with you right there was really disconcerting…I'm discombobulated." 

"Want to tell me about the dream?" He asked quietly lifting himself up to sit on the counter.

"Not particularly." She smiled up at him; the dark blue eyes staring down at her were intense and all too familiar.

He saw her flinch and sighed. "When I first met Max I always got the feeling that when she looked at me she saw someone else, Ben. And I was right." He kicked his feet slowly, his heels hitting the wood panels below him. "She still does sometimes, I think it weirds her out…I never got that off of you."

"Hmm?" Jondy cocked her head to the side and let her arms fall from the pole.

"Except for the first two seconds that we met whenever you looked at me, you saw me. You weren't looking at Ben."

"You might look a lot like him but there's way too many differences to see him when I look at you."

"But people do." Alec cleared his throat as he let his body slid from the counter. "I appreciate that you don't." He kissed her forehead gently, before walking back into the bedroom.

She was almost surprised when Zane came out a few minutes later. She wiggled her eyebrows at him playfully before walking into the living room to sit on the couch and pull her feet up underneath her. 

"You feelin' ok?" He asked quietly as he sat down next to her.

"Like a frigin' chew toy." She grinned and let her head fall back onto the back of the couch. "It's been a hard two days." She lifted her head back up and rolled her eyes. 

"I agree on that one." He reached out to brush back a strand of hair and then pulled his hand back and let it drop to his lap.

Jondy watched him for a long moment before swallowing, "you can touch me, you know. I very rarely ever bit…I mean, sometimes I'm a biter but it's rare." He laughed and shook his head. "I like it when you touch me."

So slowly that she was afraid she was imagining it he lifted his hand. Fingertips as light a butterfly wings grazed the soft skin of her cheek, where lips had grazed her cheek in her dream earlier. "You scared the hell out of me," he sniffed softly.

"I didn't mean to." She touched the back of his hand gently, biting her lip as she looked at him. "If I had had a say in it there would have been no abduction of the Jondy."

"I know." He nodded cupped her cheek. "When I thought that you were dead…" More than anything else in the world she didn't want to hear him finish that sentence so she did the only thing she could think of and leaned over until her lips were millimeters from his. Her hands cupped the back of his head as he tried to go on, "Jondy…"

"I didn't die," her lips brushed against his as she talked. "I'm alright. I barley even got hurt."

"But I thought you had," his voice cracked as he looked up at her, his green eyes full.

She kissed him them, her lips pressed against his in a desperate attempt to prove to him that she was there; alive and breathing. His arms snaked around her, pulling her body until she was sitting in his lap, her lips never breaking from his. 

Her fingers fisted in his hair as she felt his hand touch the bare skin of her back underneath her shirt. His tongue brushed her lips and she opened her mouth to let him taste her, someone groaned softly into the night and neither of them could tell who it was. He was trailing feathery kisses down her neck as her nails racked across the skin of his back. "Zane," she whispered swallowing hard.

He looked up at her, his eyes glazed slightly, "hmm?'

She opened her mouth thought better of it and kissed him softly one more time before trying again, "I…its…"

"What is it?" He asked at full attention, afraid that she was going to take this back too.

"I don't know exactly," she closed her eyes tightly and leaned her head back. "I'm not too sure what I'm trying to do here." She licked her lips and let her head fall to his neck. 

"Try and tell me."

She took a deep breath and dragged in the scent of him; "I really like you." She lifted her head to look him in the eye, electric blue eyes sparked. "Really like you. I just have never had much luck with this whole relationship thing."

"Neither have I," he admitted and smiled. "If we had we wouldn't be here right now, because we'd be with someone else."

"You've got a point there." She laughed and shook her head. "I'm just worried that if we start something and it doesn't work out…for whatever reason…" She stopped and watched him for a second, "I don't want to loose you. I would rather have you as just my brother then loose you in my life all together."

"That won't happen…"

"How do you know that? Do you have a magic eight ball, you've consulted on the matter or something?" She snarled softly at her self and ran a hand awkwardly through her hair. "I don't mean to bite your head off."

"You're scared…it's understandable." He touched her cheek; "I'm scared too. But I realized a long time ago that I want you in my life. I need you in my life, and I would do anything to keep you there." He smiled at her. "I want to try and get this whole relationship thing right for once…with you."

She searched his face for a long time, biting her lip. "Promise?" she asked in a weak voice.

"Cross my heart."

"If you hurt me, Max'll kick your ass."

"I'll do my best not to incur her wrath."

"Good idea," she smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck slowly. "Very good idea," she kissed him again, the fire in her eyes sliding down to spark between them. The rest of the world blew away as her scent filled his nostrils and her taste filled his mouth and the feel of her skin sent him into over drive.

She pulled her teeth against his bottom lip and smiled. "This is gonna be fun. You and me and maybe…some whipped cream later."

~*~

"Think they're working it out?" Max asked softly, her head resting on Alec's chest.

"I hope so," she felt his chest heave for a second in laughter. "Those two are worse about dancing around then you and Logan used to be."

She lifted her head to look down at him, in the dark she could see his face perfectly in silvery light. "Does it bother you?"

"Does what bother me?" He smiled and brushed a strand of long dark hair from her forehead. 

"That I was with Logan for so long."

He pursed his lips and shook his head slowly, "no." He leaned up to kiss the tip of her nose. "You're mine now, not Logan's."

"Most guys would be intimidated."

"Usually because they have low self esteem…"

"And your esteem isn't even close to being low?"

"Exactly." He grinned up at her. "Does the fact that I loved Rachel bother you?"

"No," her eyebrows pulled together. "But that's different."

"How?"

"Rachel can't come back into your life sometime and steal you away." She kissed his lips gently, brushing against them before pulling away again.

"Logan can't steal you away…I have every intention of keeping you, for a very long time." He ran his fingers through her hair, content as he watched a smile spread across her full carnelian lips. "Heaven help any man who tries to take you away from me."

She leaned down to kiss him gently and let out a stifled gasp when he suddenly rolled them so that he was looking down at her. "How do you plan on keeping the men away? I'm quite the catch."

"Well, I was thinking of putting a sign up on the billboard at work tomorrow…just for starters. Then I plan to hang all over you whenever we go to Crash…it'll keep the girls away from me too." He kissed her forehead laughing

"That's right." She smiled up at him, feeling the comforting weight of him press her into the bed. "I'm gonna have my work cut out for me, keeping those girls away from you. I'm not too worried though, I can kick all their asses."

"Oh, cat fight." She slapped his chest gently, and tried to wiggle out from under him but he wasn't having it. He grabbed her wrists and used his weight to trap her. "I can't wait to see that happening." She growled playfully up at him and was surprised when she watched his eyes darken suddenly. His lips were on hers before she realized what was happening, his hands cupping her face gently but firmly.

Her arms slipped around his back and under his t-shirt as the subtle taste of him covered her senses. She felt his chest rumble against hers in a low growl and suddenly understood just what effect her own had had on him. 

His hands traced the skin of her arms the curve of her neck and then dropped down to move over her stomach. She whimpered against his lips softly and felt his smile against her lips. She nuzzled against his chin to access his neck as she rolled them, she bit down against his neck gently as she felt again his growl sending tingles through her body. 

She pulled away gasping for air and looked down at Alec, feeling some instinctive animalistic pride that she had been the cause of that look in his eyes, the predatory hunger that gazed up at her lips and eyes and skin. 

He smiled up at her, "I thought you wanted to wait for me to buy you pasta?"

She kissed him again, possessively taking his tongue into her mouth and savored his taste for a long moment, the feel of his hands on her skin was like fire, and then she pulled back. "I'm tired of dancing around, there will be enough time for you to buy me pasta later." 

"Good to hear you've come to your senses." He pulled her down to him, his fingers lacing through her hair gently as he rolled them once again. 


	21. Okay, I love you, bubye

Author's Note: Ah Ha…I knew it! Alec's eyes are green! Someone steered me wrong! His eyes are green, a very pretty very sexy green. I knew it and you all let me keep doing it! Watch "The Berrisford Agenda" those eyes in the mirror are green, not blue, green! And they stay green for the entire episode funny enough. Sorry, I just…never mind. It was quite the revelation when I started the rant. And of course when I realized I had been right initially. Woohoo. Ok, so here we are at the last chapter. It's very sad, momentous occasion. We see Zack and then no more words to be written except "The" and "End." It's been a great ride, especially considering the many hours I spent pouring over my computer my little fingers working furiously on the keys…I'm so proud of me never took a typewriting class in my life and I can type without looking at the keyboard going many words per minute. Oh and there were also those fun times where I was yelling at my computer and my suite mates pounding on the door to see if I was all right. Which happened once again when I was watching "She ain't heavy" where Max said that Logan would need a good cat burglar. ::eye narrow:: she better be kidding. Anyways onto the subjects that don't make me angry. You won't be seeing me for a little while cuz I have finals this week and I have to keep writing this horrible 12-paged paper thing. And Liz if you're reading this sorry I just disappeared there, Punter Demon struck…related to the typo demon that seems to like hanging around fan fiction sites. And you will see which story won out then, and those who voted for J/A that will have no M/L at all. None. I can't read M/L I'm not gonna write it. Sorry again, people, I'm getting carried away, what can I say? Eww I just rhymed. I should go now. Good night. Good night, parting is such sweet sorrow, but I'll be back soon enough. Thanks to all the reviewers you rock my world…do keep it up. Don't flake out on me just because it's the last chapter! I'm still taking votes on which story you want me to do next. Email me if you wanna, I'll enjoy the procrastination. 

Review for old times sake!

Comin' to Get You

Chapter 21: Ok, I love you, bu-bye!

Jondy stared into the mirror for a long time her blue eyes racking over the now smooth skin of her cheeks the perfect color of sugar cookies. She lifted a trembling hand to brush her chin where the faint line of a scar was rapidly disappearing. She sighed softly, unhappily, and bit her lip as she backed away from the mirror.

She peeked her head into the living room to find Max and Zane laughing quietly and she could see the sleeve of Alec's blue shirt in the kitchen, the rest of him hidden from view. She sighed again and walked back into the bathroom, once again looking over the unmarred face. No trace of any bruises even showed. She lifted her shirt slowly looking at the scar still red and puckered running along the side of her stomach. Tentative fingers explored the line for tenderness almost disappointed when she found none.

She looked back up at herself and smiled, shaking her head at her own thoughts. How many people wanted to be in pain? "Momma, I'm strange. The thoughts and the wants are the locks on the back of my brain. I'm descending pretending I'm blending I'm going insane, and they want me to change. Momma I'm strange." Singing softly under her breath she walked into the room, smiling as all eyes turned to her indulgently. "I'm on a shaky wall, I'm tripping down the hall. And all the king's men can't, can't sew me up again. I've got a leaky head, don't know the full extent. I'm drowning in my bed. I'm just an accident. They chewed and blew me out, until they threw me out. Over and over again. Momma I'm strange." 

"How appropriate," Alec grinned, leaning a hip on the counter and shook his head.

"Complaining?" She lifted an eyebrow and smirked.

"Never." His face fell as he looked at her and nodded, "so you're leaving today?"

"Yup, all healed up."

She watched as Max swallowed softly, "you won't be away for too long, will ya?"

"Course not." Zane said smiling and throwing an arm over her shoulder. "No worries."

"Are you packed?"

"We're leaving most of our stuff here," she grinned at Max and Alec's look of relief. "It'll be easier with moving back and forth."

"Proof we're coming back," Zane said with a smirk and stood slowly to make his was into his room. Sasha trailing along behind him wagging her tail fiercely. 

Alec walked up to Jondy with a half smile and held up a small box, "I figured you'd be leaving soon so I got you a going away present, just 'cause…"

"Incentive for coming back?" She smiled up at him sweetly.

"Exactly. I didn't know what your favorite color was…" Jondy's brows drew together and her mouth fell open, she looked slowly down at her blue sweater, then brought her hand up to look at her metallic blue nails, picked up a strand of blue hair gingerly and frowned. She looked at him, her bottom lip jutting out in a pout, and just stared at him for a long time before she shook her head and started to walk away. "So I got it in blue," he finished with a smirk.

"Yippy!" She jumped back over clapping excitedly. "What is it? What is it?" Alec handed her the box trying his hardest not to laugh at the excited little girl routine, and watched as she tore open the box with Max looking over her shoulder. 

"I hope you like it," she said, "we both picked it out."

"Yeah, but I paid for it," Alec grumbled good-naturedly.

When Jondy finally got the box open she pulled out a silver necklace with a lapis stone dangling from it. Jondy's mouth fell open, "wow. Pretty." Her eyes were glued to the necklace as it spun gently in the air. "Sparkly," she looked up and threw her arms around both Alec and Max. "You guys are the best. Put it on me," she handed the chain to Alec and wiggled her eyebrows playfully. Moving her hair out of the way he quickly slipped the chain around her neck and clasped it, grinning as she jumped up and down happily. 

Max sat back down on the couch and sighed. "I still don't want you guys to go," Max said with a smile as Jondy plopped down next to her.

"I'll miss you guys too," she said throwing a lazy arm over her sister's shoulders. "It's a non-stop adventure in Seattle."

"You should be here when we go on a rescue mission," Alec wiggled his eyebrows with a laugh.

"If I remember clearly, there's a possibility that I'm not 'cause, well, heavy drugs, I have been. I _was_ the rescue mission."

"No, I mean an actual rescue rather than showing up after they've rescued themselves and just carrying them home."

"Oh, well, in that case… Why are all these transgenics being stupid enough to keep getting caught?" She shook her head, "not that you have to be stupid to get caught."

"I'm still wondering that," Alec said and walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. "What are you going to do with all this food?"

Jondy made her way over to the kitchen and looked in the fridge. "Gonna have a big lunch, make snacks for the road, and all the rest gets handed over to you guys to do what you will with it." She smiled, pulling food out of the refrigerator, as Alec threw his hands into the air triumphantly.

"Score!" He walked over to kiss the top of Max's head. "We get food!" She smiled up at him and rolled her eyes playfully. 

"Great now he's gonna get fat."

"Am not!"

Zane walked in carrying three backpacks, one for Jondy, one for him, and one for Sasha. He smiled as he dropped them in front of the couch and sat down his legs thrown over Max's. "Ready when you are."

Jondy turned to Max throwing some sandwiches into a bag. "A couple months and we'll be back, hopefully with a Zack in tow."

"I'll be looking forward to it."

"If you have any problems you have the contact number and we'll be back as soon as possible," Zane pointed out.

"You aren't alone anymore if you need us," Jondy added putting in drinks and then closing the bag.

All four came together in the middle of the room. Zane threw his arms around Max's shoulders and squeezed gently, whispering softly in her ear as Jondy threw herself at Alec wrapping both her arms and her legs around him. "Take care of yourself, dammit! And my sister too!"

"I'll do my best."

"If you don't, I'm kicking your ass." She dropped down and patted his cheek gently before given it a quick kiss. "Be good." She turned to hug Max rocking her back and forth, "grr. Take care of your boy, he's gonna need it."

"I've noticed." They turned to watch as Zane and Alec shook hands and clapped each other's shoulders. 

"Too manly to hug," Jondy said quietly.

"Mm Hmm."

Taking a deep breath Jondy picked up her backpack and bag of food and smiled as she watched Alec bent down to scratch Sasha behind the ears. Max ruffled her fur and then stood up to give Zane and Jondy one last wave as they left with Sasha following on a leash.

The last thing they heard before the door closed was Jondy's mocking voice, "I got a present and yo-ou didn't. They love me better than yo-ou."

~*~

The ride in Zane's big green truck was long and the wind tossed Jondy's hair in a tangled halo of gold and blue. Zane looked over at her frequently, smiling softly as she grinned flashing perfect white teeth. They were coming to the end of the drive and Jondy buried her face in the scruff of Sasha's neck as she stuck her head into the cabin through the window leading from the truck bed.

"There," Zane pointed to a large farmhouse up in the distance looking homey and warm. "Looks cozy," he said softly swallowing. 

Jondy nodded and placed a soft kiss on the side of Sasha's furry nose and gave her a last scratch behind the ears as the truck turned into the long dirt driveway. "You nervous?" she asked quietly biting her lip.

She heard his heavy sigh as he glanced at her, "yeah."

"Good," she smiled down at her hands, "wouldn't want to be the only one."

"Couldn't have that."

"Nope." The truck came to a stop and the two just sat there for a long time as the dust settled around the car, drifting down slowly like ghosts. Zane's hand came into Jondy's line of sight as he reached for hers. He gave it a quick squeeze and smiled reassuringly when she looked up at him.

"I'll be fine."

"I know. I just don't know how I'm gonna handle seeing him and him not being able to put a name with the face." She laughed. "He's known me longer than anyone else in the world, he was there for all the big events that made me into me, and if he wasn't I told him about them, in great detail…"

"And now he doesn't."

She nodded, her eyebrows pulling together, "I'll look at him and expect a spark of some kind and if it isn't there what'll I do? Shrug it off? I don't think so."

"We'll figure it out," he pulled her over to him and kissed her gently, letting his hands weave through her hair. "It'll turn out ok." He went to kiss her again when Sasha let out a soft hesitant bark and jumped out of the truck.

Jondy's eyes went wide as she gave a startled look to Zane and leapt out of the truck, running after Sasha whose tail had just disappeared behind the corner of the house. "Oh shit."

"What are you doing here?" she heard the familiar voice as she rounded the corner her breath catching in her throat. Squatting down ruffling Sasha's scruff affectionately as she proceeded to lick his face was the object of their hunt. Blond hair shinning in the sunlight, perfect lips stretched into a grin, and bright blue eyes dancing, was Zack.

"She's with us," Jondy heard come from behind her as Zane came to stand next to her. 

Zack looked up, seeing them for the first time, though Jondy was sure he had to have heard them from the look of non-surprise on his face. "Hello, can I do something for you?"

Jondy shook her head mutely as she stared down at him and then followed the movement of his body as he stood up gracefully. Hard muscles rippling under dusty farm clothes. "That's Sasha," she informed him with a laugh.

"Pleased to make her acquaintance," he grinned at Jondy for the first time looking into the electric blue of her eyes, and then she watched as something moved behind his eyes slowly, lethargic, until something sparked and his eyes narrowed in confusion. "Do I know you two?"

Zane shook his head slowly, "no."

Jondy walked closer to Zack until he was within arms reach, a smile lifting the corners of her mouth slowly, "but we know you."

The End


End file.
